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(Efcucational 

EDITED   BY   HENRY   SUZZALLO 

PRESIDENT   OF  THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   WASHINGTON,   SEATTLE 

ESTABLISHING 
INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

BY 
HARRY  BRADLEY  .SMITH,  PD.  M. 

Director  of  Industrial  Education 

in  the  New  York.  State  College  for  Teachers 

Albany,  N.  Y. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 
CHARLES  A.   PROSSER,  PH.D.  • 
Director  of  the  William  Hood  Dunivoody  Institute 
Minneapolis,  Minnesota 


HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

BOSTON,   NEW   YORK   AND  CHICAGO 

fctoetfibe  prejte  Cambribge 


COPYRIGHT,   1916,  BY   HARRY   BRADLEY  SMITH 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 


Vfe  »ibcrsibt  $re« 

CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
V  •  S  .  A 


PREFACE 

THE  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  suggest  to  a  State, 
a  city,  or  to  any  community  some  concrete  and 
practical  methods  of  determining  what  sort  of 
industrial  and  trade  schools  it  needs,  what  should 
be  taught  in  them,  and  how  to  select  and  pre- 
pare the  instructors  who  are  to  do  the  teaching. 
It  endeavors  to  be  specific,  to  consider  details, 
and  to  base  its  conclusions  upon  trade  conditions 
as  interpreted  by  the  best  generally  accepted 
principles  of  industrial  education. 

It  should  not  be  confounded  with  any  attempt 
to  investigate  and  report  on  the  educational 
systems  now  in  existence  or  with  suggestions 
for  the  modification  of  such  systems,  except  as 
to  the  addition  of  trade  instruction  for  men  and 
women  who  are  going  to  earn  a  living  by  a  trade. 

It  seeks  to  offer  suggestions  that  may  be>  fol- 
lowed by  action,  that  may  be  used  as  the  basis 
of  actual  school  establishment  rather  than  as  a 
basis  for  written  report. 

The  general  outline  suggested  itself  to  the 
author  some  years  ago  while  working  in  the  trade 
schools  of  Germany.  The  present  book  is  sub- 
iii 


347432 


PREFACE 

stantially  an  expansion  of  this  outline,  modified 
and  enlarged  by  subsequent  experience  and  study. 
The  writer  wishes  gratefully  to  acknowledge 
the  assistance  received  in  short  discussions  with 
Dr.  David  Snedden,  of  Massachusetts;  Mr. 
Wesley  A.  O'Leary,  of  New  York;  Mr.  Charles 
R.  Allen,  of  Massachusetts;  Mr.  A.  D.  Dean 
and  Mr.  L.  A.  Wilson,  of  Albany,  New  York; 
and  especially  to  acknowledge  his  indebtedness 
to  Mr.  Charles  A.  Prosser,  of  Minneapolis,  for 
invaluable  survey  material,  and  to  an  address 
on  "The  Study  of  the  Industries  for  the  Purpose 
of  Vocational  Education,"  delivered  before  the 
National  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Indus- 
trial Education  in  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan, 
by  Charles  R.  Richards,  of  Cooper  Union,  New 
York. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION       .      .      .      .   Charles  A.  Prosser  vii 

I.  SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL i 

II.  MAKING  THE  SURVEY 43 

III.  SELECTING  THE  COURSE 79 

IV.  SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 136 

OUTLINE 163 


INTRODUCTION 

BY  C.  A.  PROSSER 

Director  of  The  William  Hood  Dunwoody  Industrial  Institute, 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 

SITTING  in  her  rose-bower  at  Belmont,  the  shrewd 
Portia  said  to  the  winsome  Nerissa,  "If  to  do 
were  as  easy  as  to  know  what  were  good  to  do, 
chapels  had  been  churches  and  poor  men's  cot- 
tages princes'  palaces."  It  is  equally  true  to 
say  that  if  to  get  the  proper  vocational  prepara- 
tion of  youth  were  as  easy  as  it  is  to  believe  that 
the  schools  should  fit  our  young  people  for  suc- 
cessful wage-earning,  then  the  task  would  straight- 
way be  accomplished. 

It  is  a  rule  of  life  and  of  service  that  most  of 
the  best  things  are  most  difficult  to  get  and  to 
hold.  No  one  debates  the  benefit  which  would 
come  to  our  boys  and  girls,  and  to  the  nation,  if 
they  were  educated  for  efficient  workmanship  in 
some  calling  as  well  as  for  efficient  citizenship. 
Indeed,  we  are  just  beginning  to  appreciate  how 
much  the  latter  depends  upon  the  former.  Yet 
the  task  of  giving  vocational  education  to  meet 
vii 


INTRODUCTION 

the  demands  of  our  complicated  modern  life  is  by 
far  the  most  difficult  educational  question  which 
the  country  and  its  schools  have  ever  faced! 

Notwithstanding  this  fact,  the  American  peo- 
ple, impressed  with  the  great  need  of  a  system  of 
education  which  shall  fit  for  life  and  service,  have, 
with  an  enthusiasm  worthy  of  the  greatness  of 
their  cause,  rushed  into  the  task  of  establish- 
ing vocational  education  faster  than  we  have  a 
knowledge  of  the  facts  regarding  the  wide  variety 
of  occupations  so  characteristic  of  American  life 
for  which  our  youth  must  be  prepared;  faster 
than  we  have  teachers  with  proper  experience  and 
training;  faster  than  we  have  gathered  experience 
to  guide  us  in  dealing  with  the  problem  under 
American  conditions;  faster  than  we  have  been 
able  to  adopt  carefully  considered  and  carefully 
tested  equipment,  courses  of  study,  and  methods 
of  instruction.  What  wonder  that  our  discus- 
sions are  academic,  our  theories  conflicting,  our 
wide  variety  of  practice  confusing,  and  our  ef- 
forts in  many  quarters  doomed  to  failure! 

The  way  in  which  this  country  has  gone  about 
getting  vocational  training  is  after  all  character- 
istic of  the  way  in  which  we  as  a  people  get  ahead 
in  everything  we  do.  When  a  wrong  is  detected, 
when  a  need  becomes  apparent,  when  a  forward 
viii 


INTRODUCTION 

step  is  to  be  taken  along  any  social,  economic, 
or  political  line,  we  rush  into  the  task  almost  en- 
tirely without  any  previous  study  and  analysis 
either  of  the  present  situation  or  the  remedy  to 
be  applied,  crying,  "Come  on,  boys,  let's  do 
some  thing !" 

As  a  result  we  usually  spend  years  in  ill-consid- 
ered experiments,  conflicting  schemes,  and  wasted 
effort  before  we  arrive  at  any  meeting  of  minds  on 
even  the  principles  which  are  to  guide  us  in  deal- 
ing with  the  question.  There  are  no  better  illus- 
trations of  this  than  the  way  in  which  the  country 
has  handled  the  tariff  and  the  liquor  questions. 

To  be  sure,  our  radicalism  so  characteristic  of 
a  democracy  has  not  been  the  only  moving  cause 
of  our  lack  of  scientific  procedure  in  dealing  with 
the  questions  that  beset  us  as  a  people.  The  lack 
of  a  forward-looking  vision  leading  us  to  plan 
carefully  for  the  future  has  been  peculiarly 
characteristic  of  a  country  blinded  by  a  prosper- 
ity built  upon  the  exploitation  of  rich  material 
wealth  and  optimistic  in  the  face  of  apparently 
inexhaustible  natural  resources.  To  be  where 
Germany  and  German  efficiency  are  to-day  we 
should  have  begun  the  movement  for  practical 
education  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago. 

The  freedom  of  thought  and  of  action  in  a 
ix 


INTRODUCTION 

democracy  brings  conflicting  ideas  and  prac- 
tices that  cannot  be  reconciled  save  through  the 
acceptance  of  principles  and  standards  that  rest 
upon  the  indisputable  basis  of  fact  and  experience. 
As  a  nation  made  up  of  forty-eight  States  the 
problem  of  getting  concerted  action  upon  vital 
questions  affecting  the  common  welfare,  such  as 
the  regulation  of  the  liquor  traffic  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  vocational  education,  is  that  of 
dealing  with  forty-eight  sovereignties,  each  hav- 
ing its  own  peculiar  conditions  and  its  own  so- 
cial, political,  and  educational  traditions. 

As  we  grow  older  as  a  people,  as  the  disappear- 
ance of  our  boasted  natural  resources  forces  upon 
us  the  necessity  of  the  conservation  of  our  heri- 
tage and  of  the  promotion  of  the  efficiency  of  our 
human  resources,  as  our  swelling  population 
presses  upon  our  ability  to  support  life,  as  the 
simpler  give  way  to  more  complex  economic  and 
social  conditions,  we  shall  be  forced  to  study  our 
problems  more  carefully  and  to  standardize  our 
methods  of  dealing  with  them.  Then  we  shall 
substitute  conservation  for  radicalism,  caution 
for  sentiment,  investigation  for  cheap  enthusi- 
asm, standards  for  opinions,  facts  for  guesswork, 
scientific  procedure  for  ill  -  considered  experi- 
ments, and  the  expert  for  the  demagogue. 
x 


INTRODUCTION 

Indeed,  the  country  is  already  making  prom- 
ising beginnings  in  the  application  of  scientific 
methods  of  procedure  to  public  as  well  as  private 
questions.  The  cost  accountant  and  the  scien- 
tific management  expert  are  abroad  in  the  land. 
May  their  tribe  increase!  Great  national  prob- 
lems are  being  taken  from  the  hands  of  Congress 
and  committed  to  expert  commissions  for  study 
and  recommendation.  States  have  been  even 
more  active  than  the  Nation  in  this  reform. 
Bureaus  of  municipal  research  or  their  equivalent 
have  arisen  in  almost  all  of  the  larger  cities  of 
the  country  to  safeguard  the  taxpayer,  not  only 
against  the  dishonest  use  of  money,  but  through 
wise  city  planning  against  its  foolish  use  as  well. 
Social  workers  and  the  statisticians  in  increas- 
ing numbers  are  seeking  the  causes  of  human 
misery  and  crime  and  an  adequate  remedy  for 
them.  The  demand  for  properly  equipped  peo- 
ple to  make  scientific  studies  of  our  social  and 
economic  and  political  questions  is  so  great  that 
the  departments  of  sociology,  economics,  and 
business  administration  in  our  leading  universi- 
ties are  being  forced  to  make  their  work  more 
practical  and  vital  in  order  to  prepare  a  growing 
number  of  young  people  for  this  service. 

The  schools  of  the  country  have  caught  the 
xi 


INTRODUCTION 

same  spirit.  In  the  regular  schools  the  desire  for 
greater  efficiency  in  courses  of  study  and  methods 
of  instruction  has  already  led  to  a  great  many 
studies  or  surveys,  which  have  both  measured 
the  work  of  the  schools  as  they  are  and  have 
made  recommendations  for  their  betterment. 
Equally,  if  not  more,  significant  have  been  the 
surveys  for  vocational  education  that  have  been 
carried  on  in  the  last  three  years.  While  voca- 
tional training  in  schools  of  less  than  college 
grade  is,  after  all,  only  an  infant  in  swaddling 
clothes,  the  effort  to  get  it  on  a  more  scientific 
basis  is  well  under  way. 

The  movement  for  vocational  education,  which 
is  only  about  ten  years  old  in  the  United  States, 
met,  as  do  all  such  innovations  and  radical  de- 
partures from  old  ideas  and  old  ways,  with  strong 
opposition  in  many  quarters.  Consequently  it 
went  through  almost  a  decade  of  agitation  and 
propaganda  in  order  to  get  a  foothold  with 
schoolmen  and  laymen.  That  propaganda  did 
its  work  perhaps  all  too  well.  No  movement  in 
education  has  ever  taken  hold  of  the  imagination 
of  any  people  as  has  the  campaign  here  for  an 
education  fitting  for  a  wage-earning  career,  un- 
less it  be  Fichte's  call  upon  the  German  States 
for  a  system  of  education  adapted  to  the  genius 
xii 


INTRODUCTION 

of  the  German  people.  In  fact,  vocational  educa- 
tion is  not  only  well  afoot  with  us,  but  mounted 
on  horseback.  In  the  absence  of  the  vital  facts 
about  the  vocations,  carefully  planned  experience 
to  guide  and  properly  equipped  teachers  to  in- 
struct, the  movement  has  been  in  some  danger 
of  falling  of  its  own  weight. 

The  period  of  agitation  is  over  and  the  time 
for  constructive  work  is  already  upon  us.  Per- 
sonally I  should  have  preferred  to  see  National 
Aid  for  Vocational  Schools  adopted  five  years 
from  now.  But  since  it  was  certain  that  a  fed- 
eral bill  making  appropriations  for  the  States 
was  certain  to  pass  in  some  form,  it  becomes  the 
duty  of  those  closely  associated  with  the  work 
to  secure  the  passage  of  a  bill  which  will  provide 
for  adequate  national  and  state  boards  of  con- 
trol, secure  the  gradual  adoption  of  standards, 
and  safeguard  the  proper  expenditure  of  the 
moneys  allotted  to  the  States.  With  money  go- 
ing to  the  States  to  stimulate  them  in  under- 
taking on  a  large  scale  training  in  agriculture, 
industry,  and  home  economics,  the  need  for  a 
careful  and  progressive  study  of  what  shall  be 
done  in  vocational  training  and  how  it  shall  be 
done  becomes  acute! 

The  need  for  information  concerning  the  voca- 
xiii 


INTRODUCTION 

tions,  particularly  the  occupations  in  the  trades 
and  industries,  in  order  to  plan  systems  of  voca- 
tional training  for  the  schools,  has  led  to  a  num- 
ber of  surveys.  The  first  of  these  was  the  study 
made  by  the  Massachusetts  Commission  on  In- 
dustrial Education  in  1906,  which  was  followed 
by  similar  investigations  by  state  boards  and 
commissions,  notably  that  of  the  Wisconsin 
Commission  on  Industrial  Education,  and  that 
of  the  Indiana  Commission  on  Industrial  and 
Agricultural  Education.  The  purpose  of  these 
investigations  was  largely  to  find  the  need  for 
vocational  education  in  these  lines  and  to  con- 
sider the  broad  administrative  policies  upon 
which  through  legislation  the  plan  adopted 
should  be  based. 

Within  the  last  two  years  large  cities  having 
the  resources  to  meet  the  cost  of  thorough  stud- 
ies have  carried  on  surveys  under  the  direction 
of  persons  of  experience,  to  gain  the  facts  which 
would  help  them  to  get  the  kind  of  industrial  or 
commercial  or  household- arts  education,  partic- 
ularly the  former,  best  adapted  to  their  condi- 
tions and  needs.  Among  these  have  been  the 
studies  made  by  the  Richmond  Survey,  the 
Cleveland  Survey,  and  the  Minneapolis  Survey. 
The  first  and  last  of  these  were  conducted  by  the 
xiv 


INTRODUCTION 

National  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial 
Education  as  one  of  its  means  of  serving  the 
cause  in  a  constructive  way.  The  Society  is  now 
cooperating  with  the  Indiana  State  Board  of 
Education,  and  various  local  school  boards  in 
Indiana  cities  and  counties,  in  the  making  of  a 
survey  for  vocational  education  in  various  types 
of  communities  in  that  State;  while  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education  is  investigating  the 
situation  with  regard  to  vocational  education 
in  connection  with  an  educational  survey  it  is 
conducting  in  the  city  of  San  Francisco. 

These  surveys  are  predicated  on  the  idea  that 
they  are  not  only  a  good  business  proposition, 
but  that  the  facts  they  gather  and  the  expert 
opinion  they  offer  are  necessary  to  any  intelli- 
gent dealing  with  the  many  difficult  problems 
to  be  met  in  establishing  vocational  education 
of  any  kind  in  the  community. 

When  a  patient  approaches  a  physician  for 
treatment,  the  first  step  taken  by  the  latter  is  to 
make  a  diagnosis  of  the  situation  before  he  offers 
a  remedy.  American  communities,  with  all  their 
justifiable  pride  in  the  many  good  things  about 
the  public-school  systems,  realize  that  it  is  ailing, 
is  deficient  in  provisions  for  preparing  boys  and 
girls  to  meet  the  requirements  for  successful  wage- 
xv 


INTRODUCTION 

earning  and  the  highest  success  in  modern  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  life.  The  survey  makes 
a  diagnosis  of  the  situation  and  suggests  a  remedy 
in  the  form  of  a  plan  or  scheme  to  meet  it. 

No  competent  American  business  man  would 
think  of  establishing  a  manufacturing  concern 
in  a  new  place  without  making  a  survey  —  a 
careful  study  of  all  the  important  features  of  the 
location  of  the  proposed  enterprise.  He  would 
want  to  know,  for  example,  the  location  of  the 
site  with  reference  to  a  source  for  raw  material, 
competent  labor,  and  desirable  markets.  He 
would  look  into  the  physical  conditions  of  the 
site,  its  slope,  drainage,  and  composition.  The 
switching  facilities  for  moving  fuel,  supplies, 
and  finished  product  would  be  carefully  investi- 
gated. Perhaps  most  important  of  all,  his  de- 
cision as  to  locating  his  business  would  depend 
largely  upon  the  desirability  of  the  community 
as  a  place  to  live  and  rear  his  family. 

So  in  the  same  way  a  survey  for  vocational 
education  is  a  wise  business  proposition.  The 
community  is  soon  to  be  called  upon  to  invest 
money  in  site,  plant,  equipment,  salaries,  and 
supplies  for  the  purpose  of  changing  raw  mate- 
rial in  the  form  of  untrained  youths  into  the  fin- 
ished product  of  young  men  and  young  women 
xvi 


INTRODUCTION 

equipped  with  the  knowledge  and  skill  to  be- 
come successful  wage-earners  in  their  chosen 
callings.  In  order  that  neither  the  money  of  the 
city  nor  the  time  of  its  young  people  may  be 
wasted,  the  vital  facts  about  its  vocations  and 
its  vocational  needs  should  be  gathered  and  in- 
terpreted by  competent  people  before  the  school 
is  begun.  If  there  is  any  field  of  education  or  of 
human  service  where  the  old  adage,  "Look  be- 
fore you  leap,"  applies  with  more  force  than  in 
the  establishing  of  vocational  schools,  the  writer 
does  not  know  what  it  is. 

Every  community,  before  entering  upon  a 
program  of  vocational  education,  should  make  a 
preliminary  study  of  the  conditions  to  which  its 
plan  must  be  adapted.  It  may  be  possible  for 
communities  to  borrow  or  copy  their  school 
organization  and  their  courses  of  study  for  gen- 
eral education  from  other  places,  although  this 
usually  results  disastrously.  One  of  the  most 
pitiable  spectacles  in  education  to-day  is  the 
rural  community  which  has  borrowed  every 
feature  of  its  work  from  that  of  a  near-by  city. 
Its  manual  training  has  no  relation  to  country 
life.  Its  courses  of  study  give  no  help  to  the 
worker  in  agriculture  and  lead  away  from  rather 
than  to  the  farm.  All  its  work  is  aimed,  not  to 
xvii 


INTRODUCTION 

prepare  country  boys  and  girls  for  rural  life,  but 
to  prepare  an  occasional  and  lonely  graduate  to 
meet  the  entrance  requirements  of  the  state 
university. 

In  vocational  education  a  community  cannot 
transport  bodily  any  scheme  from  another  place, 
however  well  it  may  seem  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  latter.  Industries  differ  in  kind  from  one 
community  to  another.  When  of  the  same  kind 
they  differ  in  grade  and  therefore  in  their  de- 
mands upon  workers.  They  differ  in  such  things 
as  the  entrance  wage  they  offer,  the  health  risk 
to  be  met,  and  the  opportunities  for  better  wage 
and  promotion  presented.  They  differ  in  the  atti- 
tude of  employers  and  their  willingness  to  coop- 
erate with  the  school  by  employing  its  graduates 
on  favorable  terms  or  in  employing  boys  on  a 
part-school,  part-shop  plan.  Likewise  communi- 
ties differ  in  the  attitude  of  organized  labor 
toward  the  school  and  toward  recognition  of  the 
training  given  by  the  school  as  a  part  of  the  re- 
quired apprentice  training.  Communities  vary 
from  State  to  State  in  the  age  and  the  conditions 
under  which  a  pupil  may  leave  school  to  go  to 
work. 

Even  if  communities  could  safely  copy  their 
scheme  of  vocational  education  bodily  after  that 
xviii 


INTRODUCTION 

of  another  city,  they  would  not  get  very  far. 
Thus  far  industrial  education  for  the  youth  has 
been  established  for  a  very  few  trades,  such  as 
machine  shop,  carpentry,  cabinet-making,  print- 
ing, electrical  work,  automobile  repair  and  con- 
struction, bricklaying,  plumbing,  and  gas-engine 
work,  in  the  case  of  boys;  and  dressmaking,  mil- 
linery, cooking,  machine  operating,  and  junior 
nursing,  in  the  case  of  girls.  These  fourteen  lines 
are,  after  all,  only  "  a  drop  in  the  bucket"  when 
one  considers  that  the  last  United  States  Census 
listed  three  hundred  and  eighty-six  recognized 
occupations  in  the  industrial  and  mechanical 
industries  alone. 

Not  all  occupations  are  worth  training  for,  it 
is  true.  Nor  can  the  school  train  successfully  for 
all  occupations,  some  of  which  must  be  learned 
"  under  the  conditions  of  the  trade."  But  it 
seems  clear  that  thus  far  we  have  only  crossed  the 
threshold  of  our  task  of  providing  training  for 
the  vocations  in  industrial  and  mechanical  lines. 
Vocations  are  to-day  highly  specialized,  and  any 
training  for  them,  to  be  successful,  must  be  cor- 
respondingly highly  specialized.  The  search  for 
common  elements  in  all  the  vocations,  which 
could  be  given  to  the  youth  as  a  preparation  for 
each  and  all  of  them,  has  been  from  the  outset 
xix 


INTRODUCTION 

as  certain  of  failure  under  modern  conditions 
as  the  search  of  Ponce  De  Leon  for  the  magical 
fountain  of  youth. 

Without  precedent  to  guide  them,  upon 
which  they  may  completely  rely  in  meeting  the 
difficult  and  complicated  and  highly  specialized 
problem  of  providing  vocational  education  for 
its  citizenship,  communities  must  base  their  pro- 
grams on  a  local  study  of  conditions  and  the 
suggestions  and  recommendations  of  those  with 
most  experience  in  dealing  with  vocational  edu- 
cation. 

Not  all  communities  can  or  will  provide  sur- 
veys carried  on  by  outside  parties.  In  such  cases 
the  study  if  made  must  be  conducted  by  the  su- 
perintendent of  schools  or  some  other  local  per- 
son. Even  if  communities  desired  a  survey  by  so- 
called  "experts,"  there  are  few  persons  at  the 
present  time  with  experience  sufficient  to  equip 
them  for  the  task.  Communities  are  not  accus- 
tomed to  pay  for  such  investigations  out  of  their 
school  budget.  It  may  be  that  in  some  States 
such  an  expenditure  from  the  school  fund  is  not 
authorized  by  law.  Too  often  local  self-sufficiency 
opposes  outside  interference.  In  many  quarters 
of  every  community  there  is  an  impatience  if 
not  contempt  for  expert  service.  While  the 
xx 


INTRODUCTION 

money  which  a  community  would  spend  for  a 
competent  survey  before  undertaking  any  plan 
of  vocational  education  would  probably  be  the 
wisest  investment  it  could  make,  communities 
do -not  always  have,  or  at  least  they  do  not  think 
they  have,  the  money  for  such  an  innovation. 

For  all  these  reasons,  and  for  others  that  need 
not  be  given  here,  we  may  expect  to  see  the  sur- 
vey, conducted  by  persons  of  experience  brought 
in  from  the  outside,  confined,  in  general,  to  the 
larger  cities  where  philanthropy  or  an  awakened 
public  sentiment  has  made  the  establishment 
of  vocational  education  on  an  extensive  scale 
possible  and  imminent,  and  where  the  call  for  an 
expert  study  is  insistent. 

Most  of  the  surveys  for  vocational  education, 
particularly  outside  the  largest  cities  of  the  coun- 
try, will  be  conducted  by  local  agencies  of  which 
in  many  if  not  in  most  instances  the  superinten- 
dent of  schools  will  be  the  leader.  It  is  for  his 
benefit,  and  for  that  of  others  like  him  who  want 
to  know  how  to  carry  on  an  investigation  of  the 
questions  germane  to  the  proper  establishment  of 
vocational  training  in  a  given  community,  and 
how  to  translate  the  facts  when  gathered  into 
a  policy  and  a  program  of  action,  that  Mr. 
Smith's  monograph  has  been  written;  and  to 
xxi 


INTRODUCTION 

all  such  his  contribution  will  render  the  largest 
service. 

While  the  greater  part  of  this  little  book  is  de- 
voted to  the  problems  of  the  survey  for  vocational 
education,  the  author  has,  with  commendable 
foresight,  included  in  addition  a  closing  section 
rich  in  the  information  and  suggestions  it  gives 
as  to  the  steps  to  be  taken  and  the  best  ways  of 
getting,  as  the  result  of  his  survey,  such  things 
as  a  proper  course  of  study,  advisory  committees, 
and  trade  agreements.  The  monograph  is  really 
a  primer  full  of  valuable  analysis,  illustration, 
statement  of  sound  principles,  and  wise  sugges- 
tions for  the  student  of  the  subject  or  the  admin- 
istrator facing  the  new  and  difficult  problem  of 
getting  the  right  kind  of  vocational  education 
started  in  his  community. 

Especially  to  be  commended  is  the  first  sec- 
tion, where  in  a  colloquial  style  the  author  has 
set  forth,  with  keen  analysis  and  simple  lan- 
guage, the  educational  and  social  principles  which 
in  his  opinion  should  be  observed  in  any  pub- 
licly supported  scheme  of  vocational  education, 
and  the  questions  that  need  to  be  answered  by  a 
survey  of  any  given  industry  before  the  schools 
can  determine  either  whether  they  should  train 
for  the  industry  or  how  they  should  train  for  it. 
xxii 


INTRODUCTION 

Whether  or  not  we  agree  with  Mr.  Smith  alto- 
gether in  his  statement  of  principles,  we  cannot 
be  other  than  grateful  to  him  for  the  force  of  his 
presentation  and  for  the  rich  knowledge  of  vo- 
cational problems  which  his  keen  analysis  shows. 

Mr.  Smith  presents  the  case  for  a  program 
rather  than  a  portrait  survey.  The  latter  is  a 
study  which  contents  itself  with  furnishing  a 
picture  of  the  situation,  largely  statistical  in 
character,  for  a  community  where  there  is  no 
definite  prospect  of  the  immediate  establish- 
ment of  schools.  The  former  is  a  study  which 
focuses  upon  a  definite  plan  of  action  in  a  com- 
munity wanting  to  establish  vocational  schools 
at  an  early  date.  It  has  been  aptly  said  that  the 
portrait  survey  is  best  represented  by  a  girl  and 
an  adding  machine,  while  the  program  survey  is 
best  typified  by  a  conference. 

Probably  both  have  their  place  in  the  move- 
ment to  get  vocational  education.  The  portrait 
survey  is  doubtless  the  slow  but  sure  educator 
and  moulder  of  public  thought  as  the  founda- 
tion of  careful,  intelligent  action  at  some  time 
in  the  future.  The  program  survey  is  the  con- 
structive agent  which  gathers  from  the  trades, 
industries,  and  occupations,  not  only  the  perti- 
nent facts  but  the  attitudes,  the  cooperations, 
xxiii 


INTRODUCTION 

and  the  help  of  all  interests  necessary  to  start 
vocational  education  aright  in  a  community 
where  intelligent  public  opinion  is  ready  for  the 
step  and  resources  are  available  to  finance  the 
undertaking. 

There  is  a  strong  temptation  in  the  making  of 
any  survey  to  lay  perhaps  too  much  emphasis 
on  the  literary  and  statistical  side  of  the  work 
and  to  shape  the  study  with  the  hope  that  it 
may  become  a  permanent  contribution  to  the 
literature  of  the  subject.  Personally,  the  writer 
feels  that  the  thing  most  needed  and  the  thing 
from  which  communities  will  in  most  cases  get 
the  largest  return  is  the  survey  which  has  its 
aim  fastened  upon  the  immediate  usefulness 
of  the  study  to  the  city  it  serves.  From  this  point 
of  view,  not  only  must  facts  be  gathered  and  in- 
terpreted and  recommendations  made,  but  con- 
ferences must  be  held,  cooperations  established, 
trade  understandings  proposed  and  perfected,  and 
the  whole  community  brought  into  an  enthusi- 
astic and  working  support  of  the  plan  adopted. 
This  is  the  point  of  view  and  spirit  of  Mr. 
Smith's  contribution. 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL 
SCHOOLS 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

OUR  PRESENT  FOOTING 

SOME  years  ago  two  gentlemen  were  traveling 
through  a  sparsely  settled  section  of  Western 
country  and  one  of  them  asked  a  native  how 
far  it  was  to  the  next  town.  *  About  two  hours' 
traveling,"  said  the  native,  and  turned  again  to 
his  work.  After  journeying  for  another  hour 
toward  the  town,  they  met  another  native  and 
again  asked  the  distance  to  the  nearest  settle- 
ment. "About  two  hours'  traveling"  was  the 
answer.  Two  hours  more  the  two  friends  kept 
on  their  way,  and  for  the  third  time  inquired  of 
a  native  the  distance  to  the  next  town.  "About 
two  hours'  traveling"  came  the  answer.  "Well," 
said  one  of  the  gentlemen  to  the  other,  "I'm 
mighty  glad  we  are  holding  our  own." 

The  industrial  educator  has  many  reasons  for 
being  "mighty  glad  we  are  holding  our  own." 
i 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

So  swiftly  has  educational  thought  progressed 
along  practical  lines  and  so  decidedly  have  the 
manufacturer,  the  trade  unionist,  and  the  trade 
worker  changed  their  views  on  the  subject  of 
trade  training  in  schools,  that  the  industrial 
teacher  has  had  to  move  rapidly  if  he  did  noth- 
,  ing  more  than  keep  up.  It  must  be  confessed, 
too,  that  we  have  not  done  much  more  than 
"hold  our  own";  and  we  ourselves  are  somewhat 
to  blame  for  this. 

We  have  been  doing  a  great  deal  of  thinking 
along  the  line  of  practical  trade-school  education 
in  the  United  States,  but  we  have  not  always 
thought  to  the  point.  We  have  philosophized, 
theorized,  and  speculated  too  much,  perhaps,  to 
accomplish  large  material  results.  This  is  not  to 
say  that  we  have  not  progressed.  There  must  al- 
ways be  this  period  of  theory  and  speculation 
and  we  are  almost  through  it.  In  more  than  one 
State  now  we  are  beginning  to  find  the  real 
trade  school. 

Need  for  facts 

The  time  has  come  when  we  must  follow  our 
thinking  with  action.  We  must  study  trade  edu- 
cation as  a  concrete  and  business  problem  as  well 
as  an  educational  problem  in  order  to  know  what 

2 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

to  do  to  insure  success.  We  must  study  each 
phase  of  the  problem  in  order  to  ascertain 
whether  that  phase  can  show  us  that  education 
for  its  particular  business  is  or  is  not  needed;  if 
needed,  just  what  is  needed,  by  whom  it  is 
needed,  and  from  whom  it  may  best  be  ob- 
tained. What  the  country  needs  now  are  facts, 
and  facts  are  always  obtainable  if  you  go  about 
it  right.  Whenever  the  people  of  any  State  are 
ready  to  attack  this  problem  in  real  earnest, 
they  will  soon  find  themselves  developing  an 
educational  philosophy  and  program  sufficient 
to  assimilate,  interpret,  and  act  upon  all  the  facts 
presented. 

With  this  point  of  view,  then,  let  us  turn  to 
our  first  concrete  study. 

Study  the  industries 

Industrial  education  depends  upon  the  indus- 
tries. Every  attempt  to  separate  the  trade  school 
from  a  close  relationship  with  the  trade  has 
proved  disastrous.  A  study  of  industrial  educa- 
tion from  the  educational  standpoint  alone  will 
not  do.  If  we  are  to  prepare  men  and  women  to 
live  in  an  industrial  field,  we  must  study  closely 
the  industry  by  which  they  are  to  live.  , 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

What  industries  to  study 

What  industries,  then,  shall  we  study?  Obvi- 
ously those  which  are  in  the  community  and  a 
part  of  the  community  which  is  undertaking 
to  establish  and  pay  for  the  schools.  When  a 
careful  investigation  has  convinced  a  city  or 
village  that  it  has  not  within  its  confines  the 
right  kinds  of  industries  in  sufficient  numbers 
to  furnish  good  employment  for  all  the  graduates 
of  its  industrial  schools,  or  that  it  is  impossible 
or  unwise  for  other  good  reasons  to  train  exclu- 
sively for  the  home  trades,  it  can  then  turn  its 
attention  to  the  industries  of  the  State  and 
Nation.  It  must  then  take  care  to  select  trades 
and  occupations  that  have  a  steady  and  general 
demand  throughout  the  whole  country,  such  as 
printers,  painters,  barbers,  and  salesmen,  rather 
than  trades  that  are  found  only  in  selected  spots, 
like  miners,  millers,  glasscutters,  and  quarry- 
men.  By  whatever  method  we  select  the  indus- 
try to  be  studied,  the  method  of  conducting  that 
study  will  be  practically  the  same. 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

WHAT  TO  STUDY  ABOUT  AN  INDUSTRY  ' 
First  of  all  let  us  determine  whether  this  in- 
dustry is  one  that  should  be  encouraged  for  the 
good  of  the  community  and  the  State. 

The  work  place 

Does  it  place  its  workers  in  clean,  ventilated, 
and  healthful  rooms,  such  as  those  provided 
by  the  National  Cash  Register  Company,  the 
Shredded  Wheat  Biscuit  Company,  the  National 
Electric  Light  Company,  and  many  other  in- 
dustries, or  in  damp,  dirty,  disease-breeding  places 
like  the  older  textile  mills,  a  large  number  of  the 
older  foundries,  oyster-handling  cellars,  and  to- 
bacco-stripping plants? 

Hygienic  nature  of  the  work 

Is  there  anything  about  the  occupation  itself 
that  affects  the  eyes,  nose,  lungs,  etc.,  and  so, 
from  undeniable  data,  cuts  down  the  age  of  its 
employees?  This  is  the  case  in  glass-blowing  and 
cutting  and  in  metal-polishing,  except  under 
the  most  modern  conditions.  It  is  generally  true 
of  paint  factories,  chemical  process  companies, 
and  always  true  in  drilling  and  blasting  coal 
mines. 

5 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Moral  and  social  conditions 

Is  there  anything  in  the  nature  of  the  work 
that  is  morally  degrading  or  anti-social,  or  is  the 
community  proud  that  it  possesses  such  an  in- 
dustry and  glad  to  publish  the  fact  at  every  op- 
portunity? Under  the  first  head  would  come 
piano-playing  in  dance-halls,  messenger  service 
to  dives  and  gambling-joints,  waiting  on  table 
or  bar  in  all-night  cafes,  and  service  in  billiard- 
or  pool-rooms.  Distilleries  and  breweries,  the 
padrone  system  and  company  stores  in  mining 
and  milling  plants  would  illustrate  anti-social 
conditions  not  necessarily  morally  degrading. 

Standing  of  the  industry  with  its  workers 
It  is  often  enlightening  to  know  how  an  in- 
dustry appeals  to  the  men  who  are  employed  in 
it.  Is  there  a  rather  permanent  list  on  the  pay- 
roll, as  in  railroad  work,  jewelry-making,  cut- 
glass  industries,  and  the  finer  grade  of  steel  mills, 
or  is  it  continually  shifting?  What  percentage 
of  the  men  drift  out  of  the  trade  or  shop  in  three, 
six,  or  nine  months?  There  is  a  constant  shifting 
of  personnel  in  the  millinery  and  barber  trades; 
but  it  represents  for  the  most  part  a  change  of 
location  only  and  not  an  attitude  of  indifference 
6 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

to  the  trade.  On  the  other  hand,  the  simpler 
processes  in  shoe  factories  and  textile  plants  are 
very  largely  performed  by  a  transient  class  of 
workers,  and  the  canning  factories  are  notorious 
for  having  a  completely  new  set  of  hands  every 
season.  Such  work  cannot  hold  a  very  high  place 
in  the  estimation  of  these  workers. 

The  wage  factor 

What  percentage  of  the  total  number  of  em- 
ployees is  hired  each  year?  What  is  the  average 
wage  of  a  beginner  without  experience  in  any 
trade;  of  a  beginner  with  experience  in  some  me- 
chanical line? 

Local  standing 

Are  the  men  in  this  industry  considered  a  civic 
and  economic  asset  by  their  fellow  townsmen? 
To  work  for  the  Gould  Pump  Works  is  to  have  a 
standing  in  Seneca  Falls;  the  same  is  true  of  a 
place  on  the  pay-rolls  of  La  France  Engine  Com- 
pany, in  Elmira;  likewise  to  hold  a  skilled  posi- 
tion with  the  Maydole  Hammer  Company,  the 
L.  S.  Starrett  Company,  and  the  Stanley  Rule 
and  Level  Company  is  to  have  a  national  stand- 
ing as  a  craftsman. 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Interpreting  the  above 

The  State  or  community  that  proposes  to  put 
its  stamp  of  approval  upon  the  training  for  an 
industry  and  to  contribute  financially  to  such 
training  must  determine  at  the  start  that  the 
answers  to  the  above  questions  are  favorable 
to  the  progress  of  the  community  as  an  economic 
and  civic  unit  and  favorable  to  the  young  men 
and  women  whose  careers  the  community  is  pro- 
posing to  shape.  If  the  answers  to  these  ques- 
tions are  unfavorable,  the  community  should 
publish  the  fact  and  refuse  to  establish  a  school 
or  class  preparing  for  such  employment. 

CHILD-EMPLOYING  INDUSTRIES 

While  the  foregoing  facts  are  most  important 
from  a  general  standpoint,  it  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten that  industrial  education  is  primarily  for  the 
children  of  industry,  if  we  may  designate  as 
"children"  all  minors  up  to  twenty-one  years  of 
age.  We  must  therefore  study  especially  the 
child-employing  industries. 

What  are  they? 

What  are   the  child-employing   industries  of 
your  State?  Are  they  healthful  and  stimulating 
both  physically  and  mentally?  If  it  was  impor- 
8 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

tant  to  know  this  about  industry  in  general,  it  is 
many  times  more  important  to  inform  ourselves 
regarding  it  in  these  cases  where  children  are  to 
enter  the  industry  at  early  ages.  Whenever  the 
actual  investigation  shows  that  an  industry  is 
health-breaking  and  brain-deadening,  a  com- 
munity should  refuse  to  train  children  for  that 
industry. 

Children  employed  —  number  and  age 

The  next  step  is  to  ascertain  how  many  chil- 
dren these  industries  employ,  at  what  ages  these 
children  enter  upon  employment,  and  at  what 
age  most  of  them  leave. 

Are  numbers  excessive? 

In  this  connection  it  is  important  to  note 
whether  the  children  are  being  exploited  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  numbers  actually  employed 
are  in  excess  of  what  naturally  might  be  expected 
in  such  a  community.  In  many  States  the  com- 
pulsory education  laws  prevent  this  state  of 
affairs,  but  in  the  Southern  textile  mills  and  to- 
bacco plants  young  children  are  employed  in 
excessively  large  numbers.  Even  in  States  having 
stringent  factory  laws,  dolls,  willow  plumes,  and 
artificial  flowers  are  made  in  the  homes  by  such 

9 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

numbers  of  little  children  that  the  percentage 
of  minors  employed  in  gainful  occupations  is 
much  too  high.  Even  when  the  industry  may 
be  found  healthful  and  not  excessively  monoto- 
nous and  deadening,  it  may  be  drawing  children 
in  such  numbers  and  at  such  early  ages  that  the 
efforts  of  the  community  should  be  exerted  to 
check  rather  than  increase  the  number  of  chil- 
dren going  to  work. 

In  this  case  a  compulsory  education  law  may 
be  of  more  value  to  a  locality  than  a  trade  school. 
Here  again  a  trade  school  for  apprentices  after 
they  have  entered  the  trade  would  be  better  than 
one  of  lower-grade  work  having  a  tendency  to 
lead  pupils  into  the  industry.  A  trade  school 
not  connected  with  apprenticeship  should  not 
be  established  in  this  case  unless  it  could  be  of 
such  rank  as  materially  to  increase  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  beginner,  raise  the  age  of  entrance 
to  the  trade,  and  so  cut  down  the  influx  of  young 
children  into  that  industry. 

The  age  problem 

This  will  necessitate  a  study  of  the  age  prob- 
lem from  three  sides  —  the  actual  average  age 
at  which  the  children  are  now  entering,  the  age 
at  which  the  employer  prefers  to  have  them  enter 
10 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

and  his  reasons  for  the  same,  and  the  age  at 
which  a  child,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  com- 
munity, should  enter.  Here  again  we  may  refer  to 
the  Southern  textile  mills  and  tobacco-stripping 
plants  and  to  bell-boys  and  chore-boys  for  hotels 
and  boarding-houses.  The  employers  hire  the 
youngest  children  available  for  the  work  because 
they  will  accept  the  smallest  pay;  in  actual  fact 
the  children  now  in  these  Southern  plants  are 
below  the  ages  allowed  by  our  most  sensible 
compulsory  education  laws;  the  community  has 
been  shown  to  suffer  physically,  mentally,  and 
morally  for  its  neglect  of  these  future  fathers 
and  mothers. 

If  the  average  entering  age  is  so  low  that  it 
endangers  the  welfare  of  the  community's  chil- 
dren and  if  the  employer  prefers  to  have  begin- 
ners at  these  early  ages  because  of  low  wages,  as 
in  these  Southern  mills,  action  should  be  taken 
to  prohibit  this :  and  most  certainly  no  commun- 
ity would  be  justified  in  establishing  a  school 
training  these  children  for  such  industries.  If 
the  entering  age  is  too  low  because  the  employer 
cannot  obtain  sufficient  help  without  these 
young  children,  or  if  they  are  put  to  work  by 
their  parents  for  real  or  fancied  financial  reasons, 
let  us  know  whether  the  employer  will  agree  to 
ii 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

hire  more  mature  beginners  at  a  higher  begin- 
ning wage  if  they  have  had  special  training  for 
his  work.  Would  not  their  increased  efficiency 
enable  him  to  get  along  without  the  younger 
children?  Would  not  the  increased  earning  ca- 
pacity of  those  at  work  make  it  possible  for  the 
family  to  keep  the  others  a  longer  period  in 
school?  If  it  can  be  shown  that  older  children 
should  be  employed  and  would  be  employed  at 
proper  wages  if  they  were  available,  a  trade 
school  may  be  planned  to  train  these  children 
after  they  have  reached  a  specified  age,  and  thus 
increase  the  age  of  entrance  and  the  earning 
capacity. 

Length  of  employment 

We  must  know  also  the  average  age  at  which 
children  leave  their  employment,  to  see  whether 
it  is  worth  while  to  prepare  them  at  all.  It  would 
be  foolish  to  prepare  children  to  enter  an  indus- 
try where  between  the  average  age  of  entrance 
and  exit  there  was  only  a  difference  of  three 
months,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the  short 
period  of  service  is  due  largely  to  the  inability  of 
beginners  to  profit  by  the  possibilities  opened  to 
them.  In  one  of  the  larger  shoe  factories  in  cen- 
tral New  York  there  is  a  constant  change  in  the 
12 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

men  employed  in  the  cutting  department;  this 
constant  changing,  we  have  already  seen,  is  true 
of  the  workers  in  our  canning  factories  and  of 
those  in  knitting  mills  and  mills  producing  low- 
grade  cotton  textiles.  Similar  instability  is  found 
among  the  workers  on  the  simpler  processes  in 
the  making  of  harvesting  machinery,  and  in  one 
instance  a  foundry  employing  three  thousand 
men  reported  twenty-six  hundred  yearly  changes. 
Where  men  and  women  are  continually  shifting 
from  one  line  of  employment  to  another,  the 
community  cannot  afford  to  finance  their  voca- 
tional training  until  a  study  of  the  trade  shall 
reveal  that  there  are  skilled  processes  requiring 
special  training  which  this  shifting  group  has 
never  received  and  which  might  be  expected  to 
hold  them  more  uniformly  in  one  industry. 

In  the  case  of  the  shoe  factory  above  referred 
to,  there  is  ample  opportunity  for  advancing 
these  young  men  to  more  skillful  and  lucrative 
positions,  but  neither  the  firm  nor  its  employees 
have  sufficiently  recognized  this  fact.  In  the 
canning  factories  there  are  no  more  skillful  and 
lucrative  positions  for  the  workers  to  look  for- 
ward to,  and  in  the  foundry  mentioned,  the  in- 
ability of  foremen  to  handle  their  men  was  given 
as  an  important  factor  in  causing  this  constant 
13 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

shifting.  Thus,  the  short  term  of  service  alone 
cannot  condemn  an  industry;  there  may  be 
other  evidences  of  a  most  hopeful  nature. 

OPPORTUNITY  IN  THE  TRADE 

There  may  be,  for  instance,  every  evidence  of 
neglected  opportunities.  For  this  reason  where 
it  can  be  shown  that  a  reasonable  percentage  of 
children  are  actually  employed  and  these  at 
ages  agreeable  to  the  community's  standpoint, 
the  establishment  and  nature  of  the  school  will 
depend,  not  only  upon  the  length  of  service  dis- 
closed, but  also  upon  the  opportunities  offered 
for  advancement.  Thus,  in  the  machine  trades 
and  in  printing,  in  our  Northern  woolen  mills, 
and  in  our  electric  light  plants,  the  age  of  en- 
trance upon  employment  is  uniformly  high 
enough  to  satisfy  any  community,  kept  so  either 
by  the  employers  or  trade  unions  or  by  the  na- 
ture of  the  work.  In  the  cases  of  machine  in- 
dustries and  printing,  however,  the  opportuni- 
ties of  advancement  through  mechanical  skill 
are  larger  than  in  the  other  two  cases,  because 
the  gradation  of  work  is  more  uniform  and  the 
sequence  more  definite.  We  must,  therefore, 
know  first  that  the  nature  of  the  work  is  com- 
patible with  a  much  longer  term  of  service, 
14 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

and,  secondly,  that  if  we  prepare  the  child  for 
this  longer  term  there  will  be  a  constant  possi- 
bility of  advancement.  For  this  purpose  let  us 
suppose  ourselves  considering  one  great  child- 
employing  industry. 

Are  skilled  processes  ahead? 

Are  there  skilled  processes  beyond  those  ele- 
mentary ones  the  children  are  doing?  This  is 
true  of  all  the  well-regulated  trades  offering  ap- 
prenticeship instruction,  such  as  those  of  the 
machinist,  carpenter,  electrician,  and  printer. 
If  our  investigation  of  this  question  shows  that 
the  employment  is  of  the  "  blind-alley "  type, 
in  which  two  or  three  weeks,  or  even  less,  suffices 
to  master  all  the  technical  training  and  skill  that 
can  be  employed  in  the  work,  —  which  is  true 
of  about  eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  paper-box- 
making  industry  and  of  about  an  equal  percent- 
age of  the  machine  work  in  shirt  and  collar  fac- 
tories and  in  laundries,  —  it  is  evident  that  no 
trade  training  at  public  expense  should  be  pro- 
vided. If  the  advanced  processes  of  the  work  are 
so  simple  in  nature  that  all  the  knowledge  and 
skill  needed  can  be  picked  up  in  the  trade  itself 
with  what  little  assistance  can  be  given  by  a 
foreman,  which  is  possible  in  plants  working  on 

15 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

white  goods,  in  power  sewing,  straw-hat  sewing, 
and  underwear  knitting,  it  is  then  inadvisable 
to  use  public  funds  for  training  workers  to  enter 
this  industry.  If  the  amount  of  technical  infor- 
mation is  small  and  can  be  learned  with  little 
or  no  instruction  and  the  required  skill  is  of 
sufficiently  low  grade  to  be  supplied  by  the  in- 
dustry itself,  either  on  the  shop  floor  or  in  shop 
apprenticeship  classes  of  short-unit  type,  as  in 
the  simpler  processes  of  shoemaking  and  glove- 
making  and  in  machine-tending,  it  is  inadvis- 
able to  train  children  for  this  work  in  publicly 
supported  schools.  It  is  in  industries  of  this  type 
that  the  shifting  factor  is  most  prominent. 

Other  training  possible 

In  these  cases,  where  direct  trade  training  is 
refused,  some  other  form  of  instruction  might  be 
offered,  such  as  general  education  in  evening 
schools,  training  for  a  better  occupation,  or  for 
a  change  of  occupation  in  the  same  plant,  which 
are  discussed  later  on  in  this  book. 

Fitting  the  apprentice  for  advancement 

If  it  can  be  shown  that  there  are  advanced 
processes  in  the  industry  and  that  they  require 
skill  of  high  degree  and  technical  information  of 
16 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

special  nature,  then  it  is  our  business  to  find  out 
whether  the  work  that  is  assigned  to  children  is 
fitting  them  in  any  way  to  advance  and  master 
these  higher  processes  and  whether  they  really  do 
so  under  present  conditions.  In  the  case  of  the 
well-regulated  trades  cited  above,  this  might  or 
might  not  be  true,  depending  upon  whether  the 
apprentices  were  given  a  series  of  jobs  in  rota- 
tion or  kept  on  one  type  or  piece  of  work.  At 
one  time  the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  started  all 
its  apprentices  in  a  shacking  department,  which 
had  no  direct  bearing  on  their  future  apprentice- 
ship, and  though  it  may  have  contributed  to  their 
general  training,  it  was  the  cause  of  much  falling 
off  and  shifting  on  the  part  of  beginners.  The 
Fore  River  Shipbuilding  Company,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  had  for  some  years  a  carefully  planned 
system  of  apprentice  rotation,  which  not  only 
assures  each  man  a  general  experience,  but  sup- 
plements a  classroom  course  in  the  technical  side 
of  the  work. 

It  is  possible  to  arrange  the  apprenticeship 
work  in  all  high  skilled  industries  so  as  to  pro- 
vide such  successive  advancement  as  just  re- 
ferred to.  If  it  is  not  provided,  it  is  our  business 
to  see  that  it  is  provided  before  the  public  is 
taxed  to  assist  in  the  training  of  its  apprentices. 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

We  must  know  whether  a  beginner  is  kept  on 
piece  work  or  moved  from  one  operation  to  an- 
other; whether  the  learner  is  watched  and  ad- 
vanced from  one  class  of  work  to  another  accord- 
ing to  the  ability  displayed.  The  first  will  be 
found  the  case  in  the  large  automobile  shops,  in 
specialized  plants  like  those  producing  machine 
chucks,  and  generally  in  furniture  factories,  sash, 
door,  and  blind  factories,  and  plants  of  that 
nature.  On  the  other  hand,  a  careful  supervision 
of  apprentices  is  maintained  in  the  American 
Locomotive  Works,  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, the  Brown  and  Sharpe  Manufacturing 
Company  and  in  the  Filene  Stores  in  Boston. 
In  a  pattern  shop,  where  several  simple  patterns 
are  in  constant  demand,  would  a  young  appren- 
tice be  kept  six  months  repeating  these  patterns 
because  he  could  do  so  rapidly  and  profitably 
to  the  firm,  or  would  the  foreman  observe  when 
he  had  reached  sufficient  accuracy  and  speed  on 
these  elementary  patterns  and  then  permit  him 
to  attempt  others  involving  new  processes? 
Would  a  girl  in  a  dressmaking  shop  be  kept  al- 
ways on  skirts  because  she  had  speed  at  that 
work,  or  would  she  be  permitted  to  learn  the 
setting-in  of  sleeves,  even  though  it  entailed  some 
loss  of  time  at  the  start?  This  depends  alto- 
18 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

gether  too  much  at  the  present  time  on  the  size 
of  the  plant.  In  a  small  shop  employing  a  few 
girls,  the  different  branches  of  the  trade  may  be 
learned  by  one  girl,  but  in  large  establishments 
it  is  quite  impossible  without  a  change  of  em- 
ployer or  a  very  great  sacrifice  in  wages.  A 
graduate  of  the  State  College  for  Teachers  at 
Albany,  who  had  completed  a  two  years'  course 
in  dressmaking,  entered  a  local  dressmaking  es- 
tablishment in  order  to  acquire  commercial  ex- 
perience. She  was  unable  at  any  time  during  a 
year  to  get  any  instruction  in  fitting  or  even  to 
enter  the  fitting-room,  partly  through  jealousy 
of  the  technique  and  partly  because  she  was  an 
adept  at  fine  hand-sewing  and  it  was  desirable 
to  keep  her  at  that  work.  There  is  very  little 
educational  or  trade  profit  to  a  beginner  who 
remains  for  weeks  upon  any  specialized  branch  of 
a  trade,  and  it  behooves  us  at  once  to  investigate 
the  causes  that  have  brought  about  such  a  gen- 
eral misuse  of  the  apprenticeship  years. 

//  not  advanced,  why  not? 

If  the  apprentices  are  kept  upon  this  kind  of 

piece  work,  is  it  due  to  something  in  the  nature 

of  the  work  or  to  some  attitude  on  the  part  of 

the  employer  that  will  prevent  a  change  in  this 

19 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

method  if  the  beginners  are  trained;  or  is  it  due 
to  the  fact  that  proper  training  for  advance- 
ment is  not  offered  in  the  shop  or  outside  of  it? 
This  is  one  of  the  most  important  questions  to 
be  determined :  it  is  a  mighty  stumbling-block  in 
the  way  of  trade  education  where  the  answer  as 
to  the  employer's  attitude  is  unfavorable.  In 
the  dressmaking  example  cited  above,  the  ap- 
prentice's difficulties  came  more  largely  from 
the  employer's  attitude  than  from  any  expedi- 
ency of  the  shop,  although  the  latter  was  an 
important  factor.  During  one  of  the  national 
meetings  of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Industrial  Education,  a  man  of  wide  intelligence, 
a  large  employer  of  labor,  and  a  man  of  financial 
standing  frankly  and  publicly  placed  himself  on 
record  as  opposed  to  hiring  in  his  plant  any 
young  man  who  would  not  be  willing  to  learn 
the  manipulation  of  one  machine,  acquire  skill 
and  speed  in  that  one  partial  process,  and  then 
remain  at  that  job  indefinitely  without  seeking 
continually  to  change  around  and  learn  other 
parts  of  the  work.  In  a  great  furniture  factory 
where  everything  is  specialized,  this  method  of 
production  seems  indispensable  to  the  employer: 
as  a  business  proposition  alone  it  cannot  seem 
otherwise  to  him;  but  the  State  is  concerned  first 
20 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

for  its  citizens,  not  for  mechanical  systems,  and 
to  begin  an  apprentice  on  such  work  and  keep 
him  always  on  the  same  work,  cannot  result 
otherwise  than  in  a  citizenship  inferior  in  ca- 
pacity, narrow  in  outlook,  and  excessive  in  its 
effort  to  find  recreative  reaction. 

Apprentice  vs.  adult 

An  adult  citizen,  broadly  trained  in  his  ap- 
prenticeship days,  capable  of  a  general  apprecia- 
tion of  the  industry  in  which  he  is  employed, 
working  not  more  than  nine  hours  a  day,  may, 
without  serious  injury  to  himself  or  his  com- 
munity, be  kept  on  intensive  piece  work:  but  a 
learner  cannot  grow  in  such  a  task. 

Employer  creates  a  "blind  alley" 

The  first  instance,  where  the  employer  refuses  to 
do  his  part,  or  for  a  real  or  fancied  reason  main- 
tains that  the  nature  of  the  work  will  not  permit 
a  change,  is  similar  to  the  blind-alley  employment 
and  should  not  be  supported  by  the  public. 

SHALL  WE  TRAIN  INSIDE  OR  OUTSIDE  THE  SHOP  ? 

In  the  second  case,  where  training  is  possible 
but  not  offered,  let  us  determine,  first,  whether 
we  can  provide  proper  training  in  both  skill  and 
21 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

technical  information  inside  the  shop  and  do  it 
effectively  and  economically,  or  whether  it  is 
advisable  to  provide  a  school  outside  the  shop 
to  give  apprentices  instruction  in  one  or  both  of 
these  lines  of  work.  In  other  words,  assuming 
that  the  industry  has  advanced  processes  re- 
quiring training  of  special  nature,  is  there  a  real 
need  for  a  separate  school  at  public  expense  to 
provide  this  training?  If  the  industry  is  so  or- 
ganized that  it  cannot  properly  give  this  train- 
ing within  itself  and  in  its  regular  activities, 
then  it  must  be  given  outside  the  industry  or  at 
least  outside  the  regular  work  of  the  industry. 

Training  within  the  industry 

To  answer  intelligently  whether  or  not  an  in- 
dustry made  up  of  both  elementary  and  ad- 
vanced processes  is  offering  within  itself  all  the 
opportunities  for  training  that  are  needed  under 
present  conditions,  it  will  be  necessary  for  us  to 
turn  again  to  the  collection  of  facts.  Let  us 
know  first  how  many  of  the  children  formerly 
employed  in  the  elementary  processes  have  re- 
mained in  the  industry  in  advanced  positions. 
What  percentage  of  the  total  number  of  em- 
ployees are  considered  as  holding  advanced  posi- 
tions? What  is  the  scale  of  wages,  beginning  at 
22 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

the  bottom  and  running  to  the  highest  paid 
operators  and  foremen,  and  how  many  men  and 
women  employed  continuously  for  ten  years  are 
now  drawing  low  wages  as  against  the  same 
class  drawing  high  wages?  We  must  also  find 
out  how  long  these  operatives  have  held  their 
positions  without  being  advanced  in  their  work, 
whether  they  have  risen  through  increased  skill 
or  through  general  knowledge  of  the  processes 
of  the  industry  and  how  many  have  not  ad- 
vanced at  all. 

Large  number  advanced 

If  a  large  number  of  beginners  have  ad- 
vanced to  places  of  importance,  this  may  indi- 
cate that  the  industry  is  itself  affording  all  the 
training  necessary,  that  no  outside  training  is 
required;  or  it  may  indicate  that  a  splendid 
opportunity  for  supplementary  training  is  being 
neglected.  The  question  is,  How  long  has  it  taken 
them  to  advance  to  these  better  places  and  how 
many  have  failed  to  succeed?  Thus,  we  find  in 
the  case  of  instrument-makers  that  the  work  is 
very  largely  dependent  upon  superior  skill,  that 
the  business  offers  every  opportunity  for  acquir- 
ing this  skill,  and  that  the  employees  of  such 
firms  as  Bausch  and  Lomb,  in  Rochester,  often 

23 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

have  records  of  service  exceeding  thirty  years. 
We  find  also  that  these  long-term  employees 
mostly  hold  highly  paid  positions  implying  skill 
or  responsibility  and  that  their  promotions  have 
been  steady  and  systematic.  Whatever  might 
be  the  advantages  of  a  public  trade  school  to  give 
instruction  in  the  science  and  theory  of  optical 
work,  it  is  practically  certain  that  no  such  school 
is  needed  to  train  in  mechanical  skill  for  the 
optical  work  done  by  this  firm. 

Large  advance  but  slow 

For  telegraph  operators,  railroad  freight  agents, 
express  messengers,  and  postal  clerks  there  is  a 
large  and  very  general  advancement,  and  the 
man  who  remains  long  enough  usually  arrives 
at  a  very  good  position;  but  the  rise  is  unrea- 
sonably slow.  These  employees,  if  denied  any 
outside  instruction  and  left  dependent  upon  the 
daily  routine  of  business,  would  seldom  rise  to 
any  distinctive  positions,  and  where  they  did, 
would  do  so  after  many  wasted  years  of  labor. 
This  line  of  business  offers  large  advancement, 
but  it  does  not  offer  within  itself  all  the  instruc- 
tion needed  to  secure  this  advancement.  Where 
the  rise  is  assured,  but  has  been  slow,  where  it  is 
due  to  skill  and  technical  information  not  fully 
24 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

provided  in  the  day's  work,  we  can  accelerate 
it  by  training  given  in  part-time  and  evening 
schools.  This  training  should  bear  especially 
upon  the  points  that  experience  shows  are  most 
difficult  to  acquire  in  the  trade  work  itself. 

Small  number  highly  skilled 

Long  records  of  service  are  still  found  in  some 
of  our  American  watch  factories,  but  in  this  case 
they  represent  former  rather  than  existing  con- 
ditions. To-day  the  majority  of  the  employees 
working  in  the  watch-making  factories  are  un- 
skilled girls  and  women  who  cannot  advance  to 
the  best-paying  positions  except  through  un- 
reasonably long  years  of  service,  and  even  then 
in  but  a  few  instances.  This  industry  at  the 
present  time  appears  to  be  satisfying  its  own 
needs  as  regards  training  in  skill.  This  is  because 
the  low-skilled  operatives  either  drop  out  after 
a  few  years  or  content  themselves  with  long 
years  of  service  at  simple  operations  and  com- 
paratively small  pay.  Training  in  skill  is  cer- 
tainly needed  here,  but  it  can  undoubtedly  be 
given  to  sufficient  numbers  by  reorganizing  the 
work  of  beginners,  and  a  public  trade  school  is  a 
doubtful  need,  inasmuch  as  so  few  employees  can 
be  advanced  to  really  highly  skilled  work. 
25 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Our  attention  may  here  be  turned  to  some 
shorter  and  less  expensive  method  of  publicly 
supported  training  for  these  people.  For  ex- 
ample, if  investigation  shows  that  a  very  small 
percentage  of  those  remaining  in  the  industry 
after  ten  years  are  holding  places  of  importance 
and  skill,  due  to  the  fact  that  the  upper  positions 
are  relatively  few  in  number,  or  because  there  is 
something  in  the  nature  of  these  positions  that 
makes  it  impossible  to  rise  from  the  ranks  except 
in  extreme  cases  of  genius,  a  community  may 
feel  justified  in  offering  short  unit  evening 
courses  or  day  continuation  classes  to  assist  the 
operatives  as  far  as  they  can  be  assisted  to  the 
small  advancement  offered.  Another  example 
of  this  is  seen  in  the  overall-making  industry. 
The  work  is  not  highly  skilled,  advancement  is 
limited,  and  where  there  is  one  woman  holding 
a  position  of  responsibility  there  may  be  several 
hundred,  many  just  as  capable,  who  cannot 
advance  because  no  positions  are  open.  Again 
in  the  stained-glass  industry  there  are  certain 
processes  dependent  upon  manipulative  skill 
that  offer  limited  advancement  to  boys  and  men, 
but  comparatively  few  can  reach  the  highest- 
paid  positions  because  they  are  so  largely  depend- 
ent upon  native  artistic  sense.  Compare  these 
26 


SELECTING  TFIE  SCHOOL 

with  the  machinists'  trade,  where  the  highest- 
paid  work  is  within  the  reach  of  any  normally 
endowed  beginner  who  is  assured  proper  train- 
ing and  is  willing  to  work.  In  a  case  like  the  first 
one,  the  short  course  may  be  given  or  it  may  be 
possible  to  fit  these  employees  for  some  other 
industry  offering  better  opportunities  of  ad- 
vancement. This  phase  of  the  question  is  dis- 
cussed further  along  in  this  chapter. 

The  foregoing  examples  assume  that,  whether 
promoted  to  positions  of  importance  or  not,  the 
beginners  remain  in  the  industry.  We  shall  now 
consider  cases  where  the  industrial  mortality 
plays  an  important  part. 

Apprentice  mortality 

If  a  large  number  of  beginners  leave  the  in- 
dustry in  a  few  months,  it  probably  indicates 
that  they  are  receiving  a  low  wage.  This  may  be 
due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  kept  in  low-skilled 
occupations  and  not  permitted  to  advance,  al- 
though as  a  rule  this  very  repetition  of  process 
increases  the  wage,  but  curtails  the  prospect  of 
advancement.  It  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that 
beginners  are  being  trained  for  advancement  and 
thus  their  immediate  earning  power  is  less  than 
when  no  training  is  given.  This  latter  is  true  in 
27 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

the  great  railroad  systems  which  conduct  schools 
for  apprentice  training  and  of  other  concerns 
like  the  General  Electric  Company  and  Fore 
River  Shipbuilding  Company. 

If  a  large  number  of  operatives  are  leaving 
because  no  opportunity  is  offered  for  advance- 
ment, or  if  a  large  percentage  are  remaining, 
but  remaining  in  low-skilled  processes  because 
of  higher  wages,  and  if  in  this  industry  there  are 
highly  skilled  places  to  be  filled,  then  the  need 
of  a  trade  school  is  evident.  Where  operatives 
are  leaving  to  seek  better  wages  and  thereby 
neglecting  proffered  opportunities  of  training  in 
the  industry  itself,  it  will  probably  be  better  to 
organize  a  specific  class  in  the  shop  or  factory, 
give  it  public  support,  and  publish  its  oppor- 
tunities than  to  organize  an  outside  trade  school. 
This  throws  the  emphasis  upon  the  advantages 
of  that  particular  trade  rather  than  upon  the 
advantages  of  the  school,  which  acts  somewhat 
as  a  means  of  vocational  guidance.  In  many 
cases  it  will  be  more  efficient  and  more  economi- 
cal than  the  detached  class  and  it  will  further 
place  the  influence  and  support  of  the  public 
behind  those  employers  who  are  willing  to  offer 
proper  opportunities  for  training  to  their  young 
workers.  A  community  may  well  give  serious 
28 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

consideration  to  any  plan  that  gives  promise  of 
holding  apprentices  to  a  fixed  trade.  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  American  trade  beginners  to  enter 
several  trades  one  after  the  other,  leaving  them 
all  unlearned,  to  settle  at  last  upon  some  other 
trade  or  business.  Occasionally  this  represents 
a  real  effort  to  find  one's  place  in  industry,  but 
usually  it  is  prompted  by  discontent,  craving  for 
change,  and  lack  of  foresight,  all  of  which  are 
fostered  and  encouraged  by  the  lack  of  a  definite 
and  connected  course  of  training  which  every 
apprentice  must  start  the  day  he  begins  work  in 
a  new  line  or  occupation. 

The  nature  of  the  work 

Independent  of  the  fact  of  whether  an  indus- 
try is  or  is  not  now  offering  within  itself  the 
training  and  instruction  needed  by  young  appren- 
tices, the  question  must  arise  whether  there  is 
anything  in  the  nature  of  the  work  that  will  per- 
mit or  prohibit  its  arrangement  to  provide  this 
training  if  the  employers  desire  to  do  so.  First, 
can  we  provide  both  skill  and  technical  infor- 
mation? It  would  be  entirely  possible  to  do  this 
in  the  regular  work  in  the  case  of  furniture- 
making.  The  plumbers  and  the  carpenters  could 
give  the  entire  training  in  skill  and  theory  in 
29 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

the  course  of  the  daily  work  if  it  were  necessary 
to  do  so,  but  the  advancement  of  apprentices 
can  be  very  much  accelerated  by  forming  classes 
out  of  working  hours  and  giving  special  training 
in  drawing,  blue-print  making,  arithmetic,  and 
building  science. 

Can  we  give  skill  alone  ? 

Training  is  readily  given  so  far  as  skill  is  con- 
cerned in  such  cases  as  printing,  painting,  and 
paper-hanging.  The  tinsmith,  the  boilermaker, 
and  enamel-ware  workers  can  best  acquire  skill 
in  the  regular  commercial  job.  The  one  indis- 
pensable condition  is  that  the  instructor  shall 
be  a  thorough  tradesman,  familiar  with  the 
handling  of  young  men  and  capable  of  doing 
carefully  planned  and  connected  teaching.  In 
trades  like  these  it  will  be  far  better  to  offer 
special  outside  courses  in  the  technical  knowl- 
edge needed  for  advancement. 

In  some  cases  even  skill  cannot  be  offered 
entirely  in  the  trade  work. 

Must  skill  be  given  outside  ? 

Thus,  the  organization  of  plants  for  bleaching 
and  dyeing  would  ordinarily  include  complete 
chemical  laboratory  facilities,  in  which  training 

30 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

in  all  the  elementary  principles  of  the  chemis- 
try of  bleaching  and  dyeing  could  be  given  if 
desired.  On  the  other  hand,  the  organization  of  a 
textile  mill  would  not  include  adequate  facilities 
for  teaching  the  chemistry  of  textiles,  although 
it  would  afford  ample  opportunity  for  training 
the  apprentices  in  the  preparation,  mixing,  and 
use  of  dyestuffs  as  applied  to  the  work  of  that 
particular  mill.  In  the  first  instance  it  would  be 
foolish  to  establish  a  separate  school  for  the  in- 
struction in  chemistry:  in  the  second  instance, 
with  few  exceptions,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
provide  a  separate  laboratory  for  instruction  in 
textile  chemistry.  Lastly,  such  an  industry  as 
the  Solvay  Process  Company,  near  Syracuse, 
New  York,  has  found  it  practically  impossible 
to  give  satisfactory  training  to  its  apprentices 
while  they  are  engaged  in  their  regular  work, 
and  has  for  some  years  conducted  a  separate 
school  to  aid  in  their  instruction. 

Is  general  knowledge  required? 

In  many  cases  neither  skill  nor  technical  knowl- 
edge plays  the  most  important  part  in  determin- 
ing the  advancement  of  employees.  General  trade 
knowledge,  at  best  not  more  than  semi- technical, 
is  often  required  for  responsible  positions, 

3* 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

If  advancement  is  due  to  a  general  knowledge 
of  the  industry,  which  is  true  wherever  the  busi- 
ness is  a  distributing  agency  rather  than  a  pro- 
ducing agency,  or  a  combination  of  both,  such 
as  the  Fairbanks  Company,  we  can  certainly 
hasten  it  by  teaching  the  theory  in  special  classes 
for  that  purpose  and  organizing  a  course  in  the 
actual  practice,  to  be  given  in  the  shop  or  fac- 
tory or  salesroom  during  working  hours.  If  the 
industry  is  experiencing  a  lack  of  well-paid  oper- 
atives for  higher  processes  and  this  is  due  to 
inability  to  hold  the  beginners  in  the  industry 
or  inability  to  train  sufficient  numbers  of  those 
whom  they  hold,  the  indications  all  point  to  the 
possibility  of  great  good  from  some  form  of  pub- 
licly supported  trade  instruction. 

Training  for  foremanship 

The  last  paragraph  suggests  to  us  the  impor- 
tance of  knowing  whether  the  industry  under 
consideration  finds  difficulty  in  getting  opera- 
tives for  its  highest-paid  positions.  This  is  true 
of  structural-iron  workers.  It  is  the  case  in  de- 
partment-store work,  and  less  than  two  years 
ago  President  Vail,  of  the  American  Telephone 
and  Telegraph  Company,  stated  that  he  would 
gladly  employ  twenty-five  men  at  ten  thousand 
32 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

dollars  a  year  each,  if  he  could  find  men  in  his 
business  who  were  capable  of  earning  those  sala- 
ries. Such  a  statement  shows  us  at  once  that  it 
may  not  be  only  a  question  of  filling  such  posi- 
tions as  require  extra  skilled  men;  but  it  may 
reach  also  to  the  positions  of  foreman,  assist- 
ant superintendent,  and  even  superintendent 
or  general  manager.  These  latter  cases  are  es- 
pecially difficult,  inasmuch  as  they  cannot  be 
filled  by  normal  advancement  from  the  ranks. 

Where  such  difficulty  is  experienced,  it  is  usu- 
ally possible  to  form  a  class  of  picked  employees 
and,  by  carefully  restricting  the  personnel  of 
the  class,  make  a  successful  effort  to  train  es- 
pecially for  the  duties  of  foreman  and  superin- 
tendent. Thus,  where  a  large  .number  of  for- 
eigners are  employed  in  street-pavement  work 
there  is  not  sufficient  content  in  the  work  of  the 
average  laborer  to  justify  a  publicly  supported 
school  for  this  trade;  but  a  carefully  selected 
group  might  well  be  trained  in  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  trade,  with  the  direct  intention 
of  fitting  these  men  as  section  bosses  and  gang 
foremen.  Later,  some  of  these  men  might  be 
expected  to  go  of  their  own  volition  to  a  more 
advanced  school  where  they  could  find  training 
in  the  elementary  engineering  branches  that 

33 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

would  enable  them  to  become  job  foremen  and 
contractors.  This  suggests  the  whole  question 
of  training  for  foremanship  and  superintendency. 
In  foreign  countries,  especially  Germany,  the 
day-school  work  in  industrial  lines  and  technical 
branches  below  the  engineering  grade  is  almost 
exclusively  given  over  to  the  preparation  of 
foremen  or  mechanics  of  particularly  high  skill. 
The  Sunday  morning  schools  for  apprentices 
and  journeymen  are  the  only  exceptions  to  this 
in  Prussia,  and  so  carefully  are  the  courses  and 
students  selected  for  the  other  day  work  that, 
whereas  Hamburg  has  3520  students  enrolled 
in  its  evening  classes  of  all  grades  of  industrial 
work,  there  are  only  186  registered  in  the  regu- 
lar day-school  trade  classes  exclusive  of  Sunday. 
Moreover,  this  day  work  is  entirely  optional  and 
elective,  very  little  effort  is  made  to  advertise 
it,  contrary  to  the  custom  with  evening  classes, 
and  the  entire  conduct  of  the  schools  is  based 
upon  the  principle  that  those  men  who  are  men- 
tally and  physically  qualified  for  positions  of 
trust  and  importance  will  see  the  value  and  need 
of  special  training  and  be  willing  to  sacrifice  the 
time  necessary  for  electing  one  of  the  advanced 
day  courses.  It  has  always  appealed  to  me  that 
one  of  the  great,  if  not  the  greatest,  province  of 
34 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

the  industrial  day  school  was  this  fitting  of  a  self- 
elected  and  school-selected  group  of  superior  men 
and  women  for  places  in  the  forefront  of  their 
industry,  leaving  the  continuation  day  school, 
the  evening  school,  and  the  short-unit  course 
to  handle  the  bulk  of  the  lower-grade  work. 
Thus  in  any  of  the  instances  cited  thus  far  in 
our  study  of  a  particular  industry,  whether  it 
offers  advancement  from  the  ranks  or  not,  so 
long  as  it  is  not  morally  degrading  or  physically 
dangerous,  we  may  be  justified  in  attempting  to 
register  a  superior  but  small  group  of  ambitious 
workers  and  train  them  for  efficiency  in  directive 
capacity.  This  we  may  do  even  where  we  have 
previously  decided  that  it  was  not  the  duty  of 
the  community  to  offer  general  training  to  the 
personnel  of  the  trade. 

In  respect  to  creative  ability  all  men  are  not 
created  equal,  despite  the  fact  that  American  tra- 
dition has  led  many  to  believe  they  are.  There  is 
a  danger  that  the  enthusiast  in  industrial  educa- 
tion will  overlook  the  greatest  factor  in  indus- 
trial progress,  the  unequal  man.  Not  unequal 
because  of  inferiority,  but  by  superiority.  It  is  al- 
ways the  unequal  man  who  creates;  the  others  are 
intelligent  or  unintelligent  accepters.  The  clas- 
sical traditions  of  education  have  grouped  them- 

35 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

selves  around  the  unequal  man  and  have  left  the 
masses  to  accept  or  not  as  chance  might  decree. 
Industrial  education,  which  is  the  outcome  of 
a  sharp  reaction  against  the  selfishness  of  class 
education,  thinks  first  of  the  masses,  as  it  should, 
but  it  must  not  neglect  those  who  are  by  nature 
selected  to  be  leaders.  It  is  the  duty  of  present- 
day  education  to  select  and  train  those  who  are 
to  create,  in  order  that  a  new  and  higher  stand- 
ard may  always  be  presenting  itself,  and  then 
to  afford  a  mass  education  that  will  insure  the 
ability  of  the  great  working  class  to  accept  and 
make  intelligent  use  of  these  higher  standards. 
Through  this  process,  of  the  group  rising  to  the 
new  level  set  by  the  unequal  man,  has  come  all 
human  progress. 

THE  ALLIED  INDUSTRIES 

Returning  now  to  our  direct  inquiry,  we  must 
determine  next  whether  there  is  a  group  of  allied 
industries  closely  connected  with  our  main  in- 
dustry. Thus  collar-making  has  connected  with 
it  paper-box  factories,  printing-shops,  laundries, 
and  advertising  agencies;  paper-making  plants 
often  own  their  own  forests;  refrigerating  plants, 
fertilizer  factories,  car  building  and  repair  shops 
and  transportation  agencies  are  all  allied  to  the 

36 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

meat-packing  business  as  a  central  industry. 
Chemical  and  drug  manufacturers  employ  paint- 
ers, glaziers,  varnishers,  and  oil  refiners. 

Are  the  children  and  young  workers  being 
fitted  for  any  of  the  allied  groups?  How  many  of 
them  are  retained  as  workers  in  these  allied 
trades?  It  is  not  at  all  uncommon  to  find  grouped 
around  some  great  industry,  which  in  itself  offers 
only  low-skilled  occupation  to  the  worker  and 
no  opportunity  for  advancement,  several  smaller 
industries  or  trades  dependent  upon  it,  and  re- 
quiring more  skill  and  personal  talent  than  the 
main  industry  itself.  Thus,  printing  has  litho- 
graphing, book-binding,  and  engraving;  carriage 
and  automobile  firms  have  painting,  upholster- 
ing, and  decorating;  all  mills  and  factories  have 
skilled  repair  men,  and  nearly  all  plants  where 
assembling  parts  is  the  main  feature  are  depend- 
ent upon  a  larger  number  of  allied  or  semi-allied 
trades  requiring  more  skill  than  the  central  plant. 
Having  refused  public  support  to  training  for  the 
larger  industry,  we  may  find  that  these  allied 
industries  offer  an  outlet  for  some  of  the  workers 
in  our  treadmill  processes,  if  an  opportunity  be 
given  them  to  prepare  for  this  new  work.  If  one 
or  more  of  these  trades  find  difficulty  in  securing 
men  and  women  competent  to  do  their  work,  if 

37 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

no  effort  has  been  made  to  select  and  transfer  to 
or  otherwise  fit  for  any  of  these  allied  processes, 
a  school  or  class  might  well  be  started  to  prepare 
the  workers  in  one  branch  to  fill  these  more  de- 
sirable places  in  the  smaller  branches. 

Industries  for  adult  beginners 

Again,  we  must  know  whether  there  are  any 
industries  that  require  adults  as  beginners  and 
from  what  source  they  draw  their  supply  of 
workers.  Do  they  want  untrained  beginners  in 
these  industries?  Do  the  left-overs  from  our  first 
industry  go  into  these  trades  when  they  are  old 
enough?  How  many  of  them?  Do  they  make 
better  workmen  because  of  their  apprentice- 
ship in  the  first  industry  or  is  it  valueless  and 
even  a  handicap  to  them?  An  apprentice  boy 
cannot  become  a  fireman,  a  policeman,  a  motor- 
man,  or  a  stationary  engineer.  Where  do  the  men 
come  from  who  fill  these  positions?  Running  an 
elevator  might  be  some  help  to  the  boy  who  later 
becomes  an  engineer  or  a  motorman,  but  it  would 
not  help  him  to  discharge  the  duties  of  a  police- 
man. If  he  wished  to  become  a  policeman  and 
intended  to  become  a  policeman,  is  there  any  job 
open  to  him  as  a  boy  that  will  aid  him  in  prepar- 
ing for  the  duties  of  a  policeman?  Have  we 

38 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

some  industries  that  take  children  into  an  ap- 
prenticeship offering  good  opportunities,  but  de- 
mand them  before  a  certain  age  and  untrained, 
thus  closing  the  doors  to  those  who  have  already 
served  in  our  first  industry?  The  maximum  age 
limit  for  apprentices  is  fixed  at  eighteen  years  by 
the  Brotherhood  of  Bookbinders  and  by  Journey- 
men Stone  Cutters. 

An  industry  that  requires  adults  as  beginners 
is  always  short  of  help  unless  it  be  for  common 
day  labor:  if  there  is  no  opportunity  for  advance- 
ment in  our  main  industry,  if  there  are  no  allied 
industries  open  to  them,  we  may  yet  find  it  ad- 
visable to  select  a  group  and  prepare  them  for 
one  of  these  industries  that  require  age  and  ma- 
turity. There  are  positions  on  the  railroads,  for 
instance,  that  cannot  be  filled  by  minors  or  ap- 
prentices, and  yet  the  training  for  them  is  usually 
a  long  and  tedious  process  undertaken  by  the 
man  when  he  enters  the  railroad  employ  after 
working  six  or  seven  years  at  some  employment 
that  was  simply  a  blind  alley.  A  careful  survey  of 
such  industries  as  this  should  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration whenever  a  large  number  of  workers 
in  blind-alley  or  no-prospect  industries  have  been 
left  out  of  our  industrial  scheme,  because  their 
business  offered  nothing  for  which  to  be  fitted. 

39 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Vocational  guidance 

In  cases  where  industries  having  opportunities 
and  apprenticeship  refuse  to  accept  the  overflow 
from  our  blind-alley  occupations,  a  State-wide 
department  of  vocational  guidance,  able  and  will- 
ing to  give  wide  publicity  in  specific  and  concrete 
form  to  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the 
various  lines  of  work  offered  beginners,  by  thus 
pointing  out  at  the  start  the  desirable  and  unde- 
sirable jobs  and  the  proper  time  for  selecting  the 
former,  will  do  these  workers  in  blind-alley  trades 
more  good  than  any  system  of  trade  schools  that 
can  be  devised. 

The  natural  tendency  of  the  young  worker  is  to 
look  for  a  job  with  good  pay  in  the  near  future, 
and  to  reject  places  with  lower  pay  at  the  begin- 
ning, but  higher  wages  at  the  top.  The  workers 
in  positions  of  the  first  type  should  be  stimulated 
to  prepare  themselves  for  industries  with  long 
processes  and  lower  pay,  but  leading  to  perma- 
nent and  satisfactory  wages  after  the  years  of 
apprenticeship. 

Right  here  let  us  find  out  what  becomes  of  the 

other  children  that  pass  out  every  year  from  our 

industries  which  offer  work  of  the  simplest  kind 

at  the  lowest  wages,  the  children  that  we  have 

40 


SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

not  and  cannot  find  a  place  for  in  any  of  our  fore- 
going planning.  Do  they  go  into  unskilled  trades? 
What  trades?  What  percentage  of  them  are  suc- 
cessful from  the  community's  viewpoint?  Have 
they  any  information  to  guide  them  in  selecting 
another  job?  Did  they  ever  think  of  this  while 
applying  for  or  working  in  their  former  places? 
Here  is  where  the  bureau  of  vocational  guidance 
and  the  department  of  trade  training  touch  each 
other  closely.  Some  of  these  "unskilled"  occu- 
pations are  very  desirable  in  certain  localities. 
It  may  be  well  even  to  go  so  far  as  to  start  short 
courses  in  training  for  the  general  principles  of 
some  of  these  occupations,  whereas  others  will 
prove  most  uninviting.  Lectures  and  pamphlets, 
backed  by  investigation,  can  be  given  to  young 
workers  to  open  their  eyes  to  the  blind  alley  they 
are  already  in,  and  assist  them  in  making  a  sen- 
sible choice  for  the  future,  whether  they  go  into 
a  trade  school  to  prepare  for  some  skilled  trade  or 
enter  directly  upon  one  of  the  so-called  unskilled 
but  lucrative  occupations.  I  am  personally  ac- 
quainted with  a  man  who  has  a  large  yearly  in- 
come from  the  collection  of  flag  in  our  swamps 
and  who  was  led  into  this  business  by  reading  a 
pamphlet  sent  out  by  some  society  for  agricul- 
tural promotion. 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

This  State-wide  publicity  will  have  other  bene- 
ficial effects.  It  will  not  only  aid  us  in  "fitting 
the  man  to  his  job,"  but  it  will  help  most  effect- 
ively in  "fitting  the  job  to  the  man."  What  effect 
do  you  think  it  would  have  upon  the  "place  of 
work"  in  your  State,  if  a  fearless  but  absolutely 
fair  report  should  be  distributed  among  its  work- 
men, containing  the  names  of  plants  and  indus- 
tries where  the  surroundings  were  dangerous  and 
unhealthful,  due  to  a  lack  of  remedial  effort,  and 
so  warning  parents  against  allowing  their  chil- 
dren to  enter  these  places  in  search  of  work? 
Even  where  by  nature  the  work  was  dangerous, 
an  improvement  in  safety  appliances,  ventila- 
tion, etc.,  would  be  sure  to  follow  such  publicity, 
and  at  least  the  worker  entering  the  industry 
would  do  so  with  full  knowledge  of  the  dangers 
included  and  the  means  of  avoiding  them  which 
he  should  expect  to  find  in  use. 


II 

MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

As  the  reader  has  very  possibly  discovered  before 
this,  the  collection  of  the  various  facts  and  answers 
called  for  in  the  foregoing  pages  constitutes  noth- 
ing more  or  less  than  a  survey,  an  industrial  and 
educational  community  survey. 

Two  ASPECTS  OF  THE  SURVEY 

An  industrial  survey  of  a  community  is  an  or- 
ganized and  systematically  conducted  study  of 
the  local  industries,  to  ascertain  the  advisability 
and  the  possibility  of  training  beginners  to  enter 
these  industries  or  assisting  those  already  at  work 
to  increase  their  trade  and  technical  knowledge. 

An  educational  survey  is  a  similar  study  of  the 
existing  schools  and  educational  institutions  of  the 
community,  to  find  out  in  what  measure  they  are 
at  present  offering  the  general,  technical,  or  trade 
training  called  for  in  the  industrial  survey,  and 
also  the  possibilities  for  reorganization  and  addi- 
tions which  will  enable  the  existing  institutions 
to  supply  these  demands. 

43 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

From  a  combination  of  these  two  surveys  the 
director  and  his  staff  can  present  a  complete  re- 
port of  industrial  and  trade  needs  of  the  locality 
—  what  part  of  these  needs  are  being  and  can  be 
provided  for  in  the  regular  educational  system, 
just  what  needs  must  be  provided  for  outside  of 
the  present  local  educational  institutions,  and 
finally,  where  and  how  these  latter  needs  are  to 
be  taken  care  of  most  advantageously. 

The  success  of  the  survey  will  depend  first  of 
all  upon  the  personality,  experience,  and  fidelity 
of  the  director  and  his  assistants.  It  is  mani- 
festly impossible  to  lay  out  any  program  of  pro- 
cedure that  will  insure  these  requisites,  but  it 
may  be  urged  that  great  care  be  exercised  to 
select  persons  who  are  familiar  with  and  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  four  great  general  lines  of  activi- 
ties that  must  be  considered,  namely,  those  of 
the  educator,  employer,  employee,  and  trade 
unionist.  Some  member  of  the  director's  staff 
should  have  survey  experience,  especially  along 
the  lines  of  statistical  classification  and  interpre- 
tation, and  one  or  more  of  them  should  have  ex- 
perience or  have  thoroughly  studied  the  science 
of  preparing  and  presenting  a  survey  report. 

Aside  from  the  foregoing,  the  success  of  the 
survey  will  depend  in  large  measure  upon  the 

44 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

organization  and  plan  of  the  work  to  be  done. 
A  perfectly  clear  and  definite  outline  must  be 
evolved.  Its  parts  must  be  classified,  the  points 
sought  must  be  grouped  in  some  logical  order,  the 
exact  reason  for  each  step  must  be  clear,  the  as- 
signments  must  be  definite  and  the  time,  place, 
and  manner  of  returning  each  sub-report  must  be 
specified.  The  reception,  classification,  and  re- 
cording of  these  reports  must  be  provided  for, 
consultations  between  workers  must  be  arranged, 
and  follow-up  questions  to  clear  foggy  issues 
must  be  included  in  the  general  scheme.  More 
important  still,  arrangements  and  agreements 
must  be  made  beforehand  with  the  employers 
and  employees  of  the  industries  and  particular 
plants  to  be  studied,  insuring  their  permission  for 
and  cooperation  in  the  work  of  the  survey  mem- 
bers and  accurate  and  ample  figures  and  facts 
upon  which  to  base  conclusions. 

THE  INDUSTRIAL  SURVEY 

To  illustrate  the  method,  care,  and  precision 
with  which  such  a  survey  should  be  laid  out,  I 
cannot  do  better  than  to  present  here  a  brief  out- 
line of  the  industrial  survey  conducted  by  Mr. 
Prosser  and  his  assistants  in  the  city  of  Minne- 
apolis:— 

45 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

The  survey  material 

Various  agencies  cooperating  to  make  the  survey  a 
success  and  the  part  of  each 

1.  The  Survey  Organization. 

Director  and  assistants:  Lays  out  and  con- 
ducts the  actual  field  work;  receipt  and  classi- 
fication of  statistics  and  facts  and  most  of  the 
interpretation  of  the  same. 

2.  The  Local  Survey  Committee. 

Business  men  and  educators  of  Minneapolis. 
General  advisory  with  some  personal  assistance. 

3.  National  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Indus- 

trial Education. 

Starts  the  survey  through  its  secretary,  who 
is  director  of  the  survey,  contributes  personal 
assistance  through  other  officers,  and  gives 
publicity  and  assistance  through  its  influence, 
publications,  and  conventions. 

4.  University  of  Minnesota. 

Details  a  committee  to  conduct  a  special 
study  of  commercial  education  under  direction 
of  a  special  investigator.  Agricultural  school  of 
the  University  details  one  woman  and  twelve 
to  fifteen  girls  to  study  training  of  home  work- 
ers. Clerical  force  provided  by  University  Re- 
search Bureau  and  volunteer  students  of  sum- 
mer school.  Group  of  students  to  make  a  study 
of  the  facts  for  purposes  of  Industrial  education 
in  Minnesota. 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

5.  Minnesota  Department  of  Labor. 

Details  employee  to  assist  in  the  study  of 
commercial  work.  Supplies  the  services  and 
pays  all  expenses  for  studying  the  following 
points:  — 

Statistical  information  for  1914  report. 

Irregularity  of  employment  and  seasonal 
trades. 

Trade  unionism's  part  in  trade  organiza- 
tion. 

Correspondence  school  instruction. 

Number  employed  in  each  occupation  for 
each  industry. 

Apprenticeship  and  training  of  young  work- 
ers. 

Special  firms  and  their  specialties. 

Handling  information  from  inquiries  on 
question  of  further  training  for  workers. 

6.  Minneapolis  Civic  and  Commerce  Association. 

Contributes  material  of  its  1914  survey. 
Assistance  given  by  the  director  of  the  for- 
mer survey  regarding  schedules,  etc. 

7.  Minneapolis  Board  of  Education. 

Contributes  $3500. 

Gives  services  of  attendance  officer  three 

days  each  week. 

Contributes  part  time  of  other  officials. 
Vocational  Guidance  Bureau  gives  assistance. 

8.  Dunwoody  Institute. 

Contributes  $3500. 


47 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Principal  of  the  school  assists  the  director. 
Makes  study  of  "noncommissioned  officers 

of  industry." 
Makes  study  of  apprenticeship  training. 

Classification  of  all  occupations  in  Minneapolis 

Here  follows  a  general  classification  of  the  in- 
dustries into  nine  large  groups  with  the  total 
number  of  employees  in  each  group.  The  groups 
are:  — 

1.  Manufacturing  and  Mechanical  Industries. 

2.  Trade  and  Commerce. 

3.  Domestic  and  Personal  Service. 

4.  Transportation. 

5.  Clerical  Occupations. 

6.  Professional  Service. 

7.  Public  Service  not  elsewhere  specified. 

8.  Agriculture  —  Forestry  and  Animal  Husbandry. 

9.  Extraction  of  Minerals. 

Occupations  not  to  be  considered 

Certain  occupations  that  it  has  been  decided 
not  to  deal  with  are  next  tabulated  as  fol- 
lows:— 

Transportation,  Professional  Service. 
Public  Service,  Agriculture,  etc. 
Extraction  of  Minerals. 

48. 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

Groups  that  will  be  studied 

Those  of  the  groups  that  will  be  studied  are 
then  listed,  with  notes  concerning  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  work  to  be  allotted  to  each.  A  few 
examples  will  suffice  to  illustrate  this:  — 

A.  Manufacturing    and    Mechanical    Industries 
will  be  most  thoroughly  investigated. 

B.  Domestic  and  Personal  Service  will  be  covered 
as  far  as  possible  by  the  woman  in  charge  of 
the  study  of  "women's  work.'* 

C.  It  will  be  attempted  to  have  a  study  of  Com- 
mercial Training  for  clerical  occupations  made 
by  some  outside  agency  cooperating  with  the 
survey,  as  the  cost,  approximately  $1200,  can- 
not be  met  by  the  funds  available  for  the  sur- 
vey. 

And  so  on. 

Subdivinons  under  general  occupations 

The  director  proceeds  next  to  divide  the  gen- 
eral occupations  into  specific  industries  with  sta- 
tistics regarding  the  workers  in  each  separate 
industry.  The  first  general  heading  is,  naturally, 
"Manufacturing  and  Mechanical  Industries," 
and  it  is  subdivided  into  fifteen  subheadings  as 
follows:  — 

49 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 


1.  Building  Trades. 

2.  Clothing. 

3.  Lumber    and    Furni- 
ture. 

4.  Chemical  and  Drug. 

5.  Textile. 

6.  Clay,  Glass,  and  Stone. 

7.  Liquor  and  Beverage. 

8.  Metal  Industries. 


9.  Supervisors  and  Tech- 
nicians. 

10.  Food  and  Grain. 

11.  Printing  and  Engrav- 
ing. 

12.  Boots,  Shoes,  and 
Leather. 

13.  Tobacco. 

14.  Jewelry. 


15.  All  other  industries. 

For  each  of  these  industries  a  set  of  statistics 
is  given;  as,  for  example:  — 

3.  Lumber  and  Furniture 
Total  Number  of  Persons  Employed 


Skilled 

Semi-skilled 

Laborers 

Total 

Male 

Female 

Male 

Female 

Male 

Female 

1272 

15 

1379 

42 

1347 

10 

4065 

From  these  figures  grand  totals  are  found  for 
each  group  of  general  occupations. 

Industries  in  the  manufacturing  and  mechani- 
cal group  that  will  not  be  studied 

Those  of  the  above  group  that  will  not  be  con- 
sidered in  the  survey,  or  will  receive  only  partial 
consideration,  are  now  listed,  with  the  reasons 

50 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

why  the  survey  committee  has  not  included  them 
in  a  list  to  be  thoroughly  examined :  — 

Tobacco,  Liquor  and  Beverage,  Chemical  and 
Drug,  Jewelry,  Clay,  Glass,  and  Stone,  Super- 
visors and  Technicians,  and  All  Other  Industries 
are  so  set  aside  by  the  Minneapolis  survey  for 
partial,  incidental,  or  no  consideration. 

Take  Clay,  Glass,  and  Stone,  for  instance.  It 
is  first  divided  according  to  the  following  table:  — 


Skilled 

Semi-skilled 

Laborers 

Tnlnl 

Male 

Female 

Male 

Female 

Male 

Female 

Glass-blowers  

5 

o 

188 

3 

12 

o 

208 

Brick,  tile,  terra-cotta  .  . 

o 

o 

9 

134 

i 

I4S 

Lime,  cement,  gypsum  . 
Marble  and  stone  
Potteries  

0 

145 
o 

o 
o 
o 

39 
40 

o 
o 

95 
37 

o 
o 

134 

222 

150 

o 

283 

4 

278 

I 

716 

The  director  and  his  assistants  proceed  to 
analyze  the  above  table  to  decide  the  advisabil- 
ity of  a  careful  study  of  these  trades. 

First,  "Marble  and  stone"  is  set  aside,  to  be 
dealt  with  in  connection  with  the  building  trades. 
It  is  next  decided  that  "Lime,  cement,  and  gyp- 
sum" constitutes  too  small  a  field  for  study  and 
the  plants  are  too  scattered.  It  is  seen  also  that 
no  skilled  labor  is  employed  in  that  work.  "Pot- 
teries "  is  also  discarded  as  too  small.  "  Brick,  tile, 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

and  terra-cotta  "  is  also  discarded  as  too  small  and 
unskilled.  "  Glass-blowing,"  itis  decided,  is  purely 
mechanical  and  cannot  be  taught  except  "on  the 
job."  The  committee  state,  however,  that  it  is 
worthy  of  study,  but  cannot  be  considered  be- 
cause of  its  unimportance  in  this  locality — only 
five  skilled  laborers  being  employed. 

The  survey  authorities  also  note  that  the  art 
side  of  marble,  stone,  pottery,  brick,  tile,  and 
terra-cotta  will  receive  attention  under  a  sepa- 
rate study  of  "Art  in  Industry";  thus  a  special 
study  of  them  is  not  needed.  Jewelry,  for  instance, 
is  omitted  from  consideration  as  a  manufacturing 
industry  because  its  greatest  need  is  training  in 
taste  and  skill  in  applied  design,  which  receives 
full  consideration  under  "Art  in  Industry." 

So  the  different  trades  that  are  to  be  omitted 
are  taken  up  step  by  step,  classed  for  indirect 
study  or  discarded  entirely  because  of  small  size, 
unskilled  nature,  undesirable  influence,  or  unim- 
portance which  justifies  their  rejection. 

Industries  in  the  manufacturing  and  mechanical 
group  that  will  be  studied 

1.  Building  Trades. 

2.  Metal  Industries. 

3.  Clothing  Industries. 

52 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 


4.  Lumber  and  Furniture. 

5.  Food  Industries. 

6.  Textile  Industries. 

7.  Leather,  Boots,  and  Shoes. 

8.  Printing  and  Engraving. 

9.  Foundry  Operations. 
10.  Engineers. 

Each  of  the  above  subdivisions  is  then  taken 
up  and  again  subdivided  into  individual  trades, 
dividing  the  workers  as  to  skill  and  sex  the  same 
as  in  the  preceding  tables.  The  subdivision  of 
the  metal  trades  is  here  given  in  detail  as  an 
example:  — 


Skilled 

Semi-skilled 

Laborers 

Total 

Male 

female 

Male 

Female 

Male 

Female 

Moulders,  founders,  cast- 

460 
382 
304 
no 

212 
136 

755 
2894 
26 
36 

9 

o 

0 

o 
o 

1 
o 

0 

o 
o 
o 

0 

o 

0 

o 

0 

o 
o 

0 

o 
161 
o 

12 

56 
595 

7 
20 
892 

o 

0 

o 

0 

o 
o 

0 

o 
o 
o 

0 

2 
2 
0 

o 

48 

o 

0 

o 
o 

0 

o 

0 

o 

177 

o 

J 

173 

o 
13 

444 

o 

0 

o 
o 

0 

o 

0 

o 

I 

0 
0 

I 
o 

0 

o 
5 

460 
382 
304 
no 

i 

2894 
365 
36 

g 

770 

J4S 

7966 

Tinsmiths    

Boiler-makers  
Fillers,  grinders,  buffers. 
Mechanics   

Oilers  of  machinery  
Blacksmiths  
Machinists,  millwrights. 
Furnaces  and  rolling  mills 
Structural-iron  work  .  .  . 
Copper  and  brass  facto- 
ries   
Automobile  factories.  .  . 
Car  and  railroad  shops  .  . 
Lead  and  zinc  factories  . 
Tinware  and  enamelware 
All  others 

5324 

I 

1743 

S3 

839 

7 

53 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

The  table  is  then  analyzed. 

"All  other  works"  is  to  be  omitted  as  "too 
indefinite  and  scattered."  Structural-iron  work 
it  is  decided  to  handle  in  connection  with  "Build- 
ing trades."  Copper,  brass,  lead,  tinware  and 
enamelware,  and  zinc  are  discarded  because  the 
number  of  workers  represented  is  too  small. 
Automobile  factories  are  not  considered  for  the 
same  reason.  It  is  interesting  to  note  here  the 
part  that  local  conditions  play  in  the  survey  and 
its  analysis.  In  Detroit,  automobile  factories 
would  have  been  studied  as  one  of  the  great  fac- 
tors of  the  metal  trades.  The  ten  remaining  trades, 
after  the  above  are  eliminated,  are  then  set  down 
for  consideration  and  study. 

The  committee  notes  further,  "The  classifica- 
tion given  above  for  the  census  is  an  awkward  one 
for  our  purposes  here.  In  general  all  the  remain- 
ing occupations  in  the  table  and  others  will  be 
covered  in  the  study  of  establishments." 

Domestic  and  personal  service 

Each  of  the  fifteen  trades  of  the  manufacturing 
and  mechanical  industries  to  be  studied  having 
been  given  the  same  minute  preparatory  analy- 
sis as  that  for  the  metal  industries,  the  survey 
proceeds  next  to  take  up  the  second  large  divi- 
54 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

sion  of  occupations  to  be  considered,  "Domestic 
and  Personal  Service. " 

This  larger  group  is  broken  up  into  twenty- 
nine  individual  occupations,  exactly  as  has  been 
done  for  the  manufacturing  and  mechanical  in- 
dustries, and  then  in  a  similar  manner  those 
which  are  to  be  studied  and  those  which  are  to 
be  omitted  are  grouped  separately.  The  entire 
process  is  essentially  the  same  as  in  the  examples 
previously  given,  and  is  repeated  just  as  carefully 
for  each  trade  under  each  general  occupational 
heading  in  the  first  table  of  industries. 

Instructions  for  field  workers 

In  order  that  those  who  are  to  do  the  actual 
field  work  of  the  survey  may  follow  a  uniform  and 
intelligent  method,  insuring  the  collection  of  all  the 
information  needed,  there  were  prepared  sheets  of 
directions  for  field  workers.  The  importance  of 
such  directions  cannot  be  overestimated  and  the 
more  detailed  they  are  the  better,  provided  the 
investigator  is  not  hampered  by  useless  red  tape. 

Memorandum 

In  the  first  place,  each  worker  receives  a  mem- 
orandum giving  him  the  list  of  all  the  survey  ma- 
terial he  should  have  before  entering  upon  his 

55 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

investigations.  The  serial  number  and  the  form 
number  of  each  piece  of  material,  chart,  card,  or 
direction  sheet  is  given  on  this  memorandum,  and 
as  all  the  written  and  printed  matter  is  classified 
according  to  some  form  number  and  some  serial 
number,  this  memorandum  "provides  identifica- 
tion numbers  so  that  the  material  can  be  called 
for  readily  at  the  office."  From  the  list  the  in- 
vestigator can  locate  at  once  all  or  any  part  of 
the  material  he  will  need  at  any  time.  A  copy 
of  the  memorandum  follows:  — 

Serial  I.   Form  5-0. 

Memorandum  to  field  workers  giving  general  serial 
number  and  form  number  for  all  material  called 
for  by  the  "Instructions  to  Field  Workers" 

The  reference  numbers  are  as  follows:  — 
A.  For  material  under  7  of  "Instruc- 
tions":—  

1.  For  scope  and  guide  charts. 

(a)  Preliminary  Survey Serial  I  Form  i 

(&)  We  want  to  know :  — 

From  the  schools Serial  I  Form  2-a 

Training  for  industry "  I     "      2-6 

Kind  of  jobs  in  industry....     "  I     "      2-c 

2.  Departmental  chart "  I     "     3 

3.  "Suggestions  bearing  on  depart- 
mental chart" "  I     "     4 

4.  "Memo,  of  statist,  information"      "  I     "     6 

5.  Information  from  Employers 

(items  3  to  8,  dept.  chart) "          I     "     7 

56 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

6.  Occupation  cards,  25  in  set Serial  I  Form  8 

7.  Flour  mill "  HI     "     6 

8.  Letters  of  introduction "  I     "     9 

9.  Statistical  information "  II     "     i 

B.  Material  under  V  of  "  Instructions  " :  — 

1.  Place  of  art  in  industry:  — 

(a)  Manufacturers' schedule....     "  IX     "     i 

(6)  Specialty  stores  schedule  ..."  IX     "     2 

(c)  Department  stores  schedule.     "  IX     "     3 

2.  Noncommissioned  officers  of  in- 
dustry      "  XII 

Departmental  chart 

To  illustrate  the  detail  to  which  these  direc- 
tions have  been  worked  out,  let  us  select  topics 
2  and  3  under  division  A  on  the  memorandum. 

The  first  is  the  departmental  chart.  This  is  a 
chart,  19  x  30  inches  in  size,  with  three  large  head- 
ings at  the  top,  "Industry,"  "Establishment," 
"Department."  Down  the  left  side  are  twenty- 
six  question  groups  needed  for  the  report  of  the 
study  of  a  particular  industry,  plant,  and  depart- 
ment. These  questions  relate  to  the  job,  its  na- 
ture, its  wages,  its  workers,  its  prospects,  its 
required  training,  —  in  short,  the  points  which 
when  filled  in  on  the  chart  will  enable  the  survey 
committee  to  analyze  intelligently  the  depart- 
ment and  establishment  represented  and  its  con- 
tribution to  the  general  knowledge  of  the  indus- 
try in  which  it  is  classified. 

57  . 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Suggestions  bearing  on  the  departmental  chart 

The  second  topic  selected,  or  number  3,  is  a  set 
of  suggestions  for  field  workers  regarding  the  use 
of  the  departmental  chart.  They  are  very  full 
and  exact  and  much  more  complete  than  the  syn- 
opsis of  them  which  is  here  given. 

The  questions  on  the  departmental  chart  are 
arranged  on  the  sheets  of  suggestions  in  the  order 
that  they  appear  on  the  chart  and  are  numbered 
as  on  the  chart.  Under  each  of  these  numbered 
headings  the  field  worker  is  given  suggestions  as 
to  the  meaning  and  scope  of  the  question,  the 
best  method  of  approaching  it,  and  the  details  of 
information  that  are  desired. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  this  is  done  spe- 
cifically for  each  one  of  the  twenty-six  questions 
on  the  chart,  it  will  be  seen  how  important  such 
directions  seemed  to  the  survey  committee. 

As  an  example,  take  the  directions  given  for 
question  9. 

9.  What  the  Worker  Does  in  the  Occupation. 

i.  What  are  the  important  operations  per- 
formed by  the  worker? 

What  is  wanted  is  not  a  description  of  the  manu- 
facturing process  in  which  he  is  engaged,  but  an 
account  and  description  of  what  the  worker  himself 

S3 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

does.  Watch  him  work.  Keep  your  eyes  on  his  ac- 
tions, not  those  of  the  machine,  and  record  those 
actions  that  are  important,  showing  judgment,  skill, 
experience,  or  responsibility. 

2.  What  is  the  responsibility  of  the  worker? 
By  this  is  meant  what  is  the  essence  of  the  task  he 

performs,  where  his  responsibility  begins  and  ends. 

3.  Illustrations. 

Below  are  given  statements  of  what  the  worker 
does  which  illustrate  what  is  meant  by  the  above. 

Further  instructions  for  field  workers 

In  addition  to  the  above  detailed  suggestions, 
each  field  worker  receives  general  instructions 
regarding  the  investigation  he  is  doing.  The  fol- 
lowing important  points  may  be  noted:  — 

Materials  and  aids 

I.  The  worker  should  have  these  things  in  his 
possession. 

1.  Four  scope  and  guide  charts. 

(1)  (3)  Typewritten  copies  of  the  charts, 
"We  want  to  Know." 

(2)  Typewritten  copies  of  the  charts, 
"Preliminary  Survey." 

(4)  Pertinent  and  significant  informa- 
tion should  be  noted,  whether  called 
for  by  the  departmental  chart  or  not. 

2.  Some  twenty-five  or  more  copies  of  the 
departmental  chart. 

59 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

3.  A  copy  of  the  "  Suggestions  bearing  on  the 
Departmental  Chart." 

4.  A  few  copies  of  "Memorandum  of  Statis- 
tical Information  from  Employers." 

5.  Some  thirty  to  fifty  copies  of  a  blank 
reading  "Industry-Plant-Location."   One 
card  for  each  occupation  in  the  plant. 

6.  Blanks  for  items  on  departmental  chart. 

7.  A  write-up  of  the  study  of  the  flour  mill 
industry.  A  guide,  not  a  copy,  of  what  the 
survey  is  trying  to  get. 

8.  Letters  of  introduction  and  recommenda- 
tion. 

9.  Statistical  information  furnished  by  the 
State  Department  of  Labor.  Name,  loca- 
tion,  number  of  employees,   specialties, 
etc.,  for  each  firm. 

II.  Directions  to  field  workers  assigned  to  the 
study  of  an  industry. 

[Here  follow  specific  directions  for  the  guidance  of 
those  possessing  the  material  before  mentioned  and 
preparing  to  use  the  same.  The  directions  are  num- 
bered and  like  the  "instructions"  are  much  fuller 
than  the  general  suggestive  outline  given  here.] 

1.  Not  all  establishments  can  be  studied;  take  one 
of  each  important  kind  or  type,  each  to  be  thor- 
oughly analyzed  and  described. 

2.  Using  the  statistical  sheets  from  the  State  De- 
partment of  Labor,  analyze  all  establishments 
of  the  city  in  the  industry;  choose  one  of  each 

60 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

type  and  submit  analysis  and  choice  for  ap- 
proval. 

3.  Take  letters  of  introduction  to  the  office  of  each 
plant  studied;  explain  what  you  want  to  do; 
ask  for  assistance  of  the  director  if  permission 
is  refused. 

4.  Get  an  analysis  of  the  plant  into  departments 
from  the  manager  or  superintendent.    Get  an 
analysis  of  each  department  into  jobs  in  order 
of  sequence  from  the  superintendent  or  depart- 
ment head. 

5.  Have  the  office  of  the  firm  fill  out  blanks  (see 
No.  5,  under  i,  page  60),  one  for  each  occu- 
pation in  the  plant,  answering  questions  3  to  8, 
inclusive,  on  the  departmental  chart.    (These 
questions  have  to  do  with  employees  hired  and 
dropped  and  with  wages.)   Information  strictly 
confidential. 

6.  Interview  foreman  or  department  head  to  get 
answers  for  questions  9  to  26,  inclusive.   Use 
answer  blanks  (No.  6,  under  i,  page  60.) 

7.  Study  the  occupation  yourself;  go  to  the  worker 
and  check  your  information ;  work  back  and  forth 
between  foreman  and  workers.    Try  different 
workers.   (Use  blanks  Nos.  3  and  6,  page  60.) 

8.  When  certain  your  information  is  correct,  trans- 
fer to  the  departmental  chart.    Give  cross-ref- 
erence to  answer  blanks. 

9.  Study  only  one  establishment  of  a  type.    Fin- 
ish up  and  write  it  up  before  starting  a  new  type. 

61 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Use  of  cards  for  field  notes 

10.  A  quantity  of  4x6  cards  for  each  question  on 
the  chart,  except  No.  i,  with  headings  for  refer- 
ence and  filing. 

11.  Where  obtained  (here  directions  are  given). 

12.  Where  to  use,  interviewing  foremen,  workers, 
etc.,  and  in  conferences  with  advisory  commit- 
tees. 

13.  How  to  use  them;  one  card  for  each  interview, 
etc. 

14.  What  to  put  on  them;  everything  of  significance, 
etc. 

15.  What  to  do  with  them;  assemble  by  "jobs  or 
occupations";  use  in  forming  concise  statement 
of  your  conclusions,  etc. 

1 6.  Where  finally  to  leave  them  (directions  given). 

17.  Minimum  number  of  cards,  twenty-five  for 
every  job  studied. 

The  reader  will  note  here  that  the  field  worker 
has  three  different  blanks  for  constant  use.  First, 
there  are  sets  of  twenty-five  different  cards,  sev- 
eral of  a  kind,  perhaps,  one  for  each  interview, 
but  all  pertaining  to  one  job  (see  No.  6,  page  60) ; 
second,  are  the  blanks  No.  5,  under  i,  page 
60,  one  for  each  occupation  or  job  in  the  plant, 
upon  which  are  recorded  questions  regarding 
salary,  hiring,  dropping,  etc.;  and  lastly,  is  the 
departmental  chart,  to  which  all  the  above  in- 
62 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

formation  is  finally  transferred  in  condensed 
form.  The  plant  is  then  before  the  committee  in 
complete  form  —  individual  opinions,  jobs,  de- 
partments, plant. 

III.  The  write-up  of  each  study  made. 

[Under  this  heading  are  given  very  complete  direc- 
tions concerning  the  manner  in  which  the  informa- 
tion ascertained  by  the  field  workers  is  to  be  prepared 
and  written  up.] 

1.  From  your  notes  write  up  the  study  of  the  in- 
dustry.   Confine  yourself  to  items  on  the  de- 
partmental chart.   Supply  the  office  of  the  sur- 
vey with  information  of  any  kind  suggested  by 
any  of  the  material  under  No.  i  above. 

2.  Study  the  write-up  of  the  flour  industry.    Do 
not  follow  it,  but  be  guided  by  it. 

3.  Outline  the  way  you  propose  to  "put  up"  your 
material  and  submit  same  for  approval. 

4.  Tell  your  story  in  the  simplest  language  and 
most  direct  way  possible. 

5.  Submit  your  write-up  for  consideration  and 
suggestion  and  rewrite  until  you  get  it  right. 

Conferences  with  representatives  of  other 
establishments  of  the  same  type 

i.  Conferences  will  be  arranged  with  as  many 
employers  of  the  same  type  as  possible.  Where 
business  is  organized,  a  joint  conference  of  both 
employers  and  employees  will  be  arranged  or  a 

63 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

separate  conference  arranged  with  each.  Con- 
ferences will  be  held  with  advisory  committees 
for  all  trades  that  have  them. 

2.  A  copy  of  your  write-up  will  be  put  in  the  hands 
of  each  member  at  the  conference  or  sent  to  him 
in  advance.  It  will  be  gone  over  word  by  word 
for  criticism  and  suggestion. 

3.  Rewrite  until  your  story  is  approved  by  the 
trade  and  the  office. 

Other  things  to  watch  and  do 

Watch  for  the  place  of  art  in  the  industries  you 
study.  Study  the  noncommissioned  officer  in  each 
occupation.  Analyze  and  make  notes  regarding 
points  needed  above  those  of  the  ordinary  worker 
and  such  technical  information  as  will  help  to  reach 
these  positions. 

Get  information  regarding  the  kinds  of  schools  and 
classes  recommended  by  the  trade  for  training  prepara- 
tory to  these  occupations.  See  special  instruction  sheet. 

Special  instruction  sheet  for  training 

COULD  SUCH  INSTRUCTION  BE  MOST  PRACTICALLY 
AND  HELPFULLY  GIVEN  INSIDE  OF  THE  INDUS- 
TRIAL ESTABLISHMENT,  OR  IN  PART-TIME  DAY 
COURSES,  OR  IN  EVENING  CLASSES  IN  SPECIAL 
SCHOOLS  ? 

I.  At  the  outset,  the  investigator  must  be  able  to 
explain  what  is  meant  by  the  different  kinds  of 
part-time  schools  and  evening  schools.    This 
should  be  talked  over  with  the  director. 
64 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

2.  Here  again  opinions  of  foremen,  gang  bosses,  su- 
perintendents, and  workers  should  be  gathered. 

3.  So  the  opinion  of  the  field  worker  should  be 
written. 

4.  The  director  should  gather  same  material  from 
the  advisory  committee. 

This  constitutes  the  general  lay-out  of  the  en- 
tire industrial  survey.  If  the  reader  will  study  it 
carefully,  in  connection  with  the  report  of  the 
National  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial 
Education  on  the  Minneapolis  Survey,  he  should 
have  at  hand  all  the  general  information  neces- 
sary for  planning  and  carrying  out  a  similar  sur- 
vey in  his  own  locality. 

THE  EDUCATIONAL  SURVEY 

It  remains  now  to  say  a  few  words  only  regard- 
ing the  educational  or  school  survey.  School  sur- 
veys are  not  uncommon  in  this  country,  and  are 
much  easier  to  conduct  than  industrial  surveys, 
and  for  this  reason  only  a  few  general  suggestions 
and  a  few  details  are  included  in  this  study. 

Extent 

To  give  anything  like  a  comprehensive  view  of 
all  the  educational  opportunities  offered  by  a 
community  for  advancement  in  industrial  lines, 

6s 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

the  investigator  must  examine  much  more  than 
the  curriculum  of  the  ordinary  public  schools. 
Here  consideration  must  be  given  to  existing 
part-time  and  evening  schools,  private  schools, 
Y.M.C.A.  classes,  commercial  schools,  classes 
conducted  in  commercial  plants,  and  correspond- 
ence instruction.  Before  beginning  the  study  of 
any  of  these  groups,  it  is  well  to  associate  with  the 
investigator  an  advisory  local  committee  of  influ- 
ential men  who  will  assist  and  support  the  move- 
ment and  help  with  the  deduction  of  principles. 

The  public  school 

It  is  usually  easy  for  the  investigator  to  secure 
the  course  of  study  of  the  public  day  schools. 
The  subjects  therein  given  for  the  upper  grades 
and  high  schools  should  be  classified  under  three 
heads:  those  in  no  way  related  to  industrial  and 
commercial  education,  which  group  is  eliminated ; 
those  indirectly  bearing  upon  trade  proficiency, 
set  aside  for  further  consideration;  and  those  of  a 
direct  vocational  nature. 

The  classes  of  semi-industrial  nature,  such 
as  economics,  commercial  geography,  arithmetic, 
drawing,  and  chemistry,  are  then  considered  in 
the  light  of  the  findings  of  the  industrial  survey 
to  see  which  of  them,  if  any,  are  most  likely  to  be 
66 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

supplying  the  educational  wants  shown  by  the 
study  of  the  industries  to  be  real  needs.  These 
classes  will  merit  the  most  careful  investigation. 
The  other  semi-vocational  subjects  may  be  given 
consideration  as  far  as  time  and  money  permit, 
for  the  investigator  can  never  tell  where  he  may 
open  up  an  unthought-of  opportunity  for  advanc- 
ing technical  information.  Those  public-school 
classes  that  are  directly  for  vocational  purposes, 
including  all  manual  training,  prevocational  in- 
struction, vocational  schools,  trade  schools,  etc., 
under  public  direction,  will  naturally  receive  very 
careful  attention. 

From  these  investigations  the  survey  must 
establish  how,  when,  and  to  what  extent  the 
public  schools  are  providing  the  education,  tech- 
nical knowledge,  and  special  information  that 
has  been  shown  to  be  necessary  for  carrying  out 
the  local  industrial  program.  It  must  determine 
where  and  what  the  omissions  are  and  find  the 
responsibility  for  such  omissions  if  they  are 
chargeable  to  the  already  existing  classes.  It 
must  decide  what  additions,  changes,  and  re- 
adaptations  are  desirable  both  for  the  schools  and 
the  industries,  and  it  must  set  aside  those  educa- 
tional phases  of  vocational  instruction  that  do 
not  fall  within  the  province  of  any  public  school. 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Part-time  and  evening  schools 

A  careful  survey  must  also  be  made  of  the  part- 
time  and  evening  schools,  which  are  usually  a 
most  fruitful  field  for  extending  technical  and 
trade  information.  Something  of  the  scope  of 
such  an  inquiry  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
outline  used  in  Minneapolis:  — 

Serial  VIIL  Form  A. 

Questions  submitted  to  evening  schools 

I.  What  courses  did  you  conduct  in  industrial, 
technical,  and  business  subjects? 
<z.  How  many  classes  in  each  subject? 

b.  Total  enrollment  in  each  subject? 

c.  Average  attendance? 

d.  Evenings  a  week? 

e.  Weeks  in  the  year? 

/.  Total  number  of  class  meetings  during 

the  course? 
II.  Entrance  requirements:  — 

a.  Age? 

b.  Scholarship? 

c.  Experience? 

III.  How  do  you  get  the  pupils  for  the  classes? 

a.  By  advertising? 

b.  By  solicitors? 

c.  By  correspondence? 

d.  Other  methods? 

68 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

e.  Are  your  present  methods  of  securing 
students  statisfactory  to  you? 

/.  What  methods  are  used  to  secure  regu- 
lar attendance? 
IV.  Have  you  specified  times  for  admitting  pupils? 

a.  Have  you  preliminary  registration  or  are 
pupils  admitted  at  any  time? 

b.  If  pupils  are  admitted  at  any  time,  how 
do  you  group  them? 

By  their  desires?  ...  Or  by  their  fit- 
ness, determined  by  conference  with 
instructor  or  director? 

c.  To  what  extent  are  students  grouped 
according  to  their  occupations  or  experi- 
ence? 

d.  If  possible,  please  give  the  registration  in 
each  class  by  occupation. 

e.  What  proportion  of  your  students  attend 
for  two  years?  For  three  years? 

/.  What  proportion  of  your  pupils  have  had 

correspondence-school  courses? 
V.  What  tuition  is  charged  for  the  instruction? 

a.  Is    tuition    "by    the    term/'   "by    the 
course"  or  by  the  lesson? 

b.  What  additional  fees  are  charged? 

c.  Is  any  part  of  the  tuition  refunded? 
On  what  conditions? 

d.  What  tools,  supplies,  or  texts  are  fur- 
nished by  the  student? 

e.  Approximate  cost? 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

VI.  Instruction:  — 

a.  Is  instruction  by  lectures? 
Class  instruction? 

Or  individual  instruction? 

b.  How  many  subjects  may  the  student 
pursue  in  one  term? 

c.  Describe  the  equipment  of  the  school  for 
doing  the  work  of  each  course. 

d.  To  what  extent  are  textbooks  used  in 
various  courses? 

e.  Name  texts  used  in  each  class. 
/.  Are  examinations  given? 

g.  Please  furnish  any  examination  questions 
which  you  may  have  in  the  subjects  of- 
fered in  your  school. 

h.  What  certificate  or  other  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  successful  completion  of  sub- 
jects or  course  is  given? 

f .  What  is  the  value  of  your  certificate? 
In  your  own  courses? 

In  other  schools? 
In  securing  a  position? 
j.  What  facilities  have  you   for  placing 
graduates  in  positions? 
What  follow-up  records  are  kept  of  grad- 
uates? 

VII.  Qualifications  of  instructors:  — 

a.  Academic  training? 

b.  Technical  training? 

c.  Trade  or  commercial  experience? 

70 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

d.  Personal  qualifications? 

List  of  machines  used  in  business  courses. 
VIII.  Relations  with  employers:  — 

a.  Do  employers  come  to  you  for  help  in 
securing  promising  employees? 

b.  What  efforts  do  you  make  to  inform  em- 
ployers that  their  employees  are  attend- 
ing evening  school  endeavoring  to  make 
themselves  more  proficient  in  their  work? 

c.  Do  you  have  any  advisory  boards  or 
conference  committees  of  any  kind  from 
the  business  or  trade  to  assist  in  stand- 
ardizing your  instruction?    If  so,  what 
do  these  committees  do? 

With  the  answers  to  these  questions  in  hand 
and  having  selected  and  placed  beside  them  the 
educational  and  trade  needs  of  all  the  occupations 
not  otherwise  provided  for,  the  investigator  can 
quickly  and  somewhat  surely  lay  out  the  courses 
and  classes  that  merit  particular  inquiry.  The 
results  of  his  personal  investigation  are  then 
added  to  those  from  the  public-school  survey. 

Private  and  commercial  schools 

In  most  communities  the  private  schools  will 
be  of  a  business-school  type.  Occasionally  pri- 
vate industrial  schools  or  institutes  will  be  found 
and  will  be  investigated,  either  under  the  plan 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

laid  down  for  evening  schools  or  under  the  one 
herewith  submitted  for  commercial  schools :  — 

A.  It  is  advisable  first   to  form  a  committee  of 
representative  citizens. 

1.  Number  to  be  decided,  5  to  10. 

2.  Duties:  — 

Criticism,  suggestion,  and  support. 

B.  Study  of  the  opportunities  for  commercial  edu- 
cation given  by  the  private  schools. 

i.  The  standard  of  judging  the  school  is 
based  on  the  following  factors:  — 

(1)  Prerequisite    preparation    of    the 
pupils  demanded  by  the  school. 

(2)  Equipment  of  school. 

(3)  Experience  and  preparation  of  the 
teaching  force. 

(4)  Attitude  of  teacher  and  principal 
toward  — 

(a)  Education. 

(b)  Practical  work. 

(c)  Placement. 
7  (d)  Follow-up. 

(e)  Survey. 

(5)  Estimate  of  type  of  teachers  and 
pupils. 

(6)  General  atmosphere  of  the  class- 
,room. 

(7)  Follow-up  of  school  graduates:  with 
comment  from  employers  on  work. 

72 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

(8)  Study  of  dropping  out  as  a  test  of 
practicality  of  course. 

(9)  Giving  of  tests  worked  out  by  Na- 
tional Associated  Schools  of  Scien- 
tific Business.    These  tests  to  be 
given  to  five  representative  pupils 
of  graduating  class  of  each  school 
for   the    purpose    of    determining 
individual  efficiency. 

C.  The  determination  of  the  extent  of  solicitation 
on  the  part  of  private  commercial  schools. 

1.  Interview  with  all  pupils  who  have  regis- 
tered and  decided  to  enter  private  com- 
mercial schools  upon  leaving  the  eighth 
grade. 

2.  The  tentative  investigation  of   typical 
schools:  — 

(The  investigation  being  a  determina- 
tion of  the  number  of  eighth-grade  chil- 
dren solicited,  together  with  an  interview 
with  these  children.) 

3.  Selection  of  one  class  of  freshmen  in  high 
schools  as  test  for  amount  of  solicitation 
private  schools  do  in  the  summer. 

D.  A  comparison  of  the  courses  given  in  these 
schools  with  the  commercial  training  found 
necessary  to  supply  the  requirements  of  local 
employers:  — 

Are  the  courses  full  enough? 

Are  they  too  general? 

73 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Is  information  accurate? 

Are  local  commercial  methods  used  and  local 

conditions  regarded? 
Is  preparation  for  specific  work  given  or  for 

general  commercial  uses? 
Are  necessary  courses  lacking? 
E.  Students:  — 

Are  students  selected  for  fitness? 
Are  students  selected  for  age? 
Is  successful  follow-up  work  done? 
Have  employers  confidence  in  the  work? 

THE  COMMERCIAL  INDUSTRIAL  SURVEY 

If  actual  commercial  opportunities  and  needs 
have  not  already  been  established  in  the  course 
of  the  industrial  survey,  it  will  be  necessary, 
along  with  the  study  of  business  schools,  to  con- 
duct an  investigation  into  the  opportunities  and 
requirements  for  office  work  and  other  forms  of 
commercial  employment.  The  following  sugges- 
tions will  illustrate  the  nature  of  such  an  in- 
quiry:— 

A.  Investigation  of  the  occupational  opportunities 
in  a  large  number  of  representative  offices. 
i.  Types  to  be  selected  upon  the  advice  of 
the  advisory  board   and  to  include  the 
entire  range  of  work  in  small  and  large 
offices. 

74 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

2.  Personal  interviews  with  the  employers 
on  the  question  of  the  present  success  or 
failure  of  adequate  preparation  for  office 
work  on  the  part  of  public  and  private 
schools.   The  formulation  of  definite  sug- 
gestions from  the  employer  as  to  his  re- 
quirements for  the  changes  in  the  school 
curriculum  which  he  is  willing  to  advocate. 
His  attitude  toward  cooperative  classes. 

3.  Checking  of  the  list  of  office  machines  and 
equipment  in  use. 

4.  Data  on  hours,  wages,  overtime,  advance- 
ment, and  physical  conditions. 

B.  Personal  interview  with  boys  and  girls  already 
placed  in  office  work,  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
the  point  of  view  of  the  worker  in  regard  to 
preparation  and  opportunity. 

1.  125  pupils  from  public  schools. 

2.  125  pupils  from  private  schools. 
Random  selection,  5  for  each  of  the  fol- 
lowing years:  — 

1909-10          1911-12          1913-14 
1910-11  1912-13 

3.  Individual  records  secured  by  settlements 
and  social  workers. 

C.  Outline  of  opportunities  for  men  and  women. 

1.  Advanced  positions  of  special  responsibil- 
ity. 

2.  Direction   of   advancement   from   office 
work  to  any  form  of  commercial  work. 

75 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

(These  facts  to  be  obtained  through  the 
survey  and  by  personal  interview  with 
men  and  women  who  have  made  good  in 
business  with  a  view  of  obtaining  informa- 
tion as  to  the  method  of  their  success.) 
3.  Opportunities  for  commercial  work  of  low 
grade  in  small  establishments,  and  what  is 
minimum  of  education  or  training  neces- 
sary. 

(1)  To  meet  the  demands  of  the  work 
engaged  in. 

(2)  To  fit  worker  for  advancement. 

The  conclusions  and  recommendations  of  the 
survey  resulting  from  the  entire  investigation 
into  commercial  work  and  education  may  be 
then  summed  up  something  as  follows:  — 

A.  Summary  for  conclusions. 

1.  Basis:  — 

(1)  Present  survey. 

(2)  Survey  of   1913   in   Minneapolis, 
1915  in  Minneapolis. 

(3)  The  studies  made  in  Boston  and 
Cleveland,  and  the  report  of  P.  V. 
Thompson,   "Commercial  Educa- 
tion in  Public  Secondary  Schools." 

2.  Interpretation  of  the  evidence  gathered 
as  a  means  of  throwing  light  on  the  organi- 
zation of  commercial  work  in  public  and 
private  schools. 

76 


MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

(1)  Whether  a  four-year  course  is  the 
best  plan. 

(2)  Where  the  point  of  selection  of 
definitely  vocational  courses  should 
be  reached  by  the  pupil. 

(3)  Whether   a   two-year   commercial 
course  is  necessary  or  valuable. 

(4)  Comparison  of  success  of  pupils  — 

(a)  Of  less  than  high-school  edu- 
cation. 

(b)  Of  less  than  common-school 
education. 

(5)  Whether  a  fifth  year  of  expert  tech- 
nical training  is  needed. 

(6)  Need  of  standard  of  apprenticeship 
system  — 

(a)  Through  cooperative  courses. 

(b)  Through  probation  period. 
Concluding  statement  of  the  attitude  of 
the  survey  toward  public  and  private  com- 
mercial schools. 

(1)  What  is  their  present  function? 

(2)  Are  any  of  their  methods  detri- 
mental to  the  good  of  the  student, 
the  vocation,  or  the  public? 

(3)  If  these  schools  are  found  in  any 
way  to  be  either  wasteful  or  detri- 
mental, what  is  the  fairest  and  best 
method  of  dealing  with  them? 

(4)  Are  they  filling  all  the  needs  of  the 
local  commercial  occupations? 

77 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

(5)  If  not,  can  they  be  reorganized  to  do 
so? 

(6)  Are  additional  facilities  needed  for 
commercial  instruction? 

OTHER  FORMS  OF  EDUCATION 

The  foregoing  outlines  will  suffice  to  indicate 
the  form  of  inquiry  that  would  be  made  into 
Y.M.C.A.  classes,  private  short  courses,  and  cor- 
respondence schools.  All  these  avenues  of  ap- 
proach to  the  practically  minded  student  should 
be  included  in  the  investigations  of  the  survey. 
The  correspondence  school  especially  should  be 
thoroughly  studied  to  find  out  just  how  many 
people  it  is  reaching,  how  long  it  holds  thenr, 
what  it  actually  does  for  them,  their  trade  ad- 
vancement resulting  from  this  study,  cost,  meth- 
ods of  instruction,  methods  of  advertisement  and 
publicity,  and  such  other  facts  as  may  help  to 
show  their  value  and  true  function  in  the  local 
educational  scheme. 

What  has  been  said  here  upon  the  educational 
survey  is  recognizedly  far  from  complete,  but  it 
would  seem  that  a  pretty  definite  idea  has  been 
given  as  to  the  nature,  scope,  and  method  of  such 
a  survey,  and  this  is  the  only  end  which  it  is 
possible  to  attain  without  going  far  outside  the 
province  of  a  book  of  this  nature. 


Ill 

SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

ADVISORY  BOARDS 

ONCE  the  answers  to  the  inquiries  suggested  in  our 
opening  section  have  been  fully  formulated  and 
the  kinds  and  types  of  schools  that  should  be 
established  have  been  decided  upon,  it  devolves 
at  once  upon  the  local  authorities  to  prepare 
courses  of  study  presenting  the  nature  and  details 
of  the  instruction  to  be  given  in  each  course  and 
in  each  subject  of  the  course.  Where  this  in- 
struction is  to  deal  with  direct  prevocational 
training,  trade-preparatory  material,  trade-ex- 
tension work,  or  actual  trade  instruction  for 
pupils  over  sixteen  years  of  age,  it  is  advisable 
and  well-nigh  absolutely  necessary  to  associate 
with  the  authorities  directing  the  work  an  advis- 
ory board  of  representative  citizens  to  assist  in 
the  formation  of  courses. 

An  advisory  board  may  or  may  not  have  execu- 
tive powers,  and  its  function  differs  from  those  of 
the  regular  board  of  education  in  that  the  former 
is  a  group  of  specially  selected  men  who  are  par- 

79 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

ticularly  fitted  to  give  advice  regarding  the  ac- 
tual subject-matter  to  be  taught  and  may  not 
have  any  authority  over  the  autonomy  of  the 
school,  whereas  the  latter  directs  the  actual  busi- 
ness conduct  of  the  institution  and  seldom  is 
capable  of  giving  expert  advice  regarding  the 
information  to  be  imparted  or  the  means  and 
methods  used  to  impart  it. 

An  advisory  board  should  consist  of  from  five 
to  seven  members,  excepting  where  there  are  a 
large  number  of  trades  in  one  school,  when  it  is 
well  to  have  each  trade  represented  on  the  board. 
In  some  cases  it  is  found  better  to  have  a  separate 
board  for  each  skilled  trade  taught.  This  insures 
careful  supervision  of  the  material  used  for  in- 
struction, but  may  prove  exceedingly  awkward 
unless  the  function  of  such  boards  is  purely  ad- 
visory and  not  executive. 

In  general  an  advisory  board  should  be  made  up 
of  an  educator,  preferably  the  executive  officer  of 
the  school,  representatives  of  employers,  or,  bet- 
ter still,  the  employers  themselves,  and  skilled 
employees  from  local  plants.  Wherever  the  trade 
represented  has  a  local  labor  union,  a  representa- 
tive of  organized  labor  should  have  a  place  on 
the  board.  The  personnel  of  the  board  should  be 
selected  with  a  view  to  preventing  a  monopoly  of 
80 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

direction  by  any  one  interest,  while  affording  rep- 
resentation to  all,  and  at  the  same  time  bringing 
to  the  service  of  the  school  the  intelligent  advice, 
interest,  influence,  and  standing  of  the  strongest 
and  most  influential  people  of  the  locality. 

It  should  be  the  duty  of  this  board  or  boards  to 
pass  final  approval  upon  the  subject-matter  of  the 
trade  instruction  to  be  given,  and  also  upon  the 
order  in  which  the  various  projects  are  presented. 
The  members  should  also  pass  upon  the  equip- 
ment, nature,  and  price,  before  it  is  purchased, 
and  upon  all  other  matters  that  pertain  distinctly 
to  the  technique  and  science  of  the  business  un- 
der consideration. 

This  board  may  also  aid  in  working  up  coop- 
eration between  the  employers  of  labor  and  the 
school  by  championing  the  adoption  of  such  un- 
derstandings as  the  one  indicated  by  the  follow- 
ing card,  which  is  given  by  Rochester  firms  to 
young  people  applying  for  positions :  — 

At  the  present  time  this  firm  is  only  employing 
workers  (under  eighteen  years  of  age)  recommended 
by  the  Department  of  Public  Instruction.  If  you  de- 
sire a  position  we  would  suggest  that  you  communi- 
cate with  Raymond  C.  Keople,  308  Municipal  Build- 
ing. Hours  9  to  10  A.M.,  4.  30  to  5.30  P.M. 

YAWMAN  &  ERBE  MFG.  Co. 
81 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

By  such  means  the  trade  schools  reach  many 
new  pupils  and  the  employers  secure  much  better 
workers. 

TRADE  AGREEMENTS 

One  of  the  most  valuable  services  that  an 
advisory  board  can  render  to  any  school  is  to 
assist  in  bringing  about  a  series  of  trade  agree- 
ments between  the  school  and  the  employers  and 
between  the  school  and  organized  labor.  A  trade 
agreement  means  a  complete  written  understand- 
ing between  the  school  and  an  employer  of  labor; 
for  instance,  regarding  the  instruction  and  train- 
ing to  be  offered  in  the  school  and  in  the  shop  to 
workmen  and  apprentices  employed  by  the  con- 
tracting manufacturer.  It  specifies  how  long  the 
course  shall  be,  its  details,  how  many  pupils  shall 
enter,  and  what  shall  be  required  for  satisfactory 
completion  of  the  work. 

The  school  defines  the  arrangement  of  time  in 
the  week;  the  employer  contracts  to  allow  pay  for 
certain  specific  school  hours  and  agrees  to  hire  so 
many  graduates  at  a  fixed  rate  of  pay  when  the 
course  is  over,  or  to  continue  in  his  employ  a  cer- 
tain number  of  graduates  at  a  stipulated  increase, 
if  the  men  are  already  on  his  pay-roll.  The  trade 
union  would  at  the  same  time  allow  a  certain  per 
82 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

cent  credit  on  apprenticeship  time  to  such  of  its 
apprentices  as  satisfactorily  completed  this  extra 
work. 

The  above  is  an  ideal  case.  In  actual  practice 
such  agreements  usually  fall  into  four  large  divi- 
sions. 

Tentative  agreements 

A  tentative  agreement  is  one  in  which  the  em- 
ployer gives  his  approval  to  the  idea  of  trade 
training  for  his  men,  agrees  to  urge  his  appren- 
tices to  take  such  training,  and  signifies  his  will- 
ingness to  cooperate  with  the  school,  and  to  be 
guided  in  his  selection  and  payment  of  appren- 
tices by  the  results  actually  attained. 

General  agreements 

In  a  general  trade  agreement  the  employer 
gives  his  approval  to  particular  specified  courses 
of  study,  and  agrees  to  give  those  who  complete 
these  courses  special  consideration  when  he  hires 
new  men,  and  also  to  favor  them  in  times  of  slack 
work  when  employees  are  laid  off.  An  example 
of  such  a  trade  agreement  follows :  — 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Steamfitters 

Memorandum  of  courses  for  journeymen  steam- 
fitters  and  helpers  at  the  William  Hood  Dunwoody 
Industrial  Institute  for  the  year  1915-16:  — 

I.  The  approval  of  the  union  and  the  employer  of 
these  evening  courses  is  asked:  — 

(a)  Free  evening  classes  for  journeymen 
steamfitters  and  helpers  will  be  offered 
at  the  Dunwoody  Institute  for  the  year 
1915-16. 

(6)  These  classes  will  begin  in  October  and 
continue  through  the  winter. 

(c)  Classes  will  be  continued  so  long  as  an 
average  attendance  of  not  less  than  12 
persons  is  maintained. 

(d)  The  following  unit  courses,  attached  to 
this  report  and  marked  "Exhibit  A," 
will  be  offered. 

(e)  Upon  the  completion  of  any  unit  course 
a  certificate  to  this  effect  will  be  issued 
to  the  student  by  the  Dunwoody  Insti- 
tute. 

II.  The  approval  by  the  union  and  the  employer  of 
this  arrangement  for  the  further  training  of 
helpers  is  asked:  — 

(a)  The  Steamfitters'  Union  is  to  require  all 
helpers  entering  the  steamfitting  work 
after  August  i,  1915,  to  attend,  for  two 

84. 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

seasons  of  not  less  than  seven  months 
each,  evening  classes  at  the  Dunwoody 
Institute,  bearing  on  steamfitting  not 
less  than  two  nights  a  week. 

(b)  The  employers  shall  agree  to  give  prefer- 
ence in  the  employment  of  workers  to 
the  helpers  attending  such  classes  and 
in  the  reduction  of  their  force  in  dull 
times  to  give  the  same  preference. 

(c)  That  an  advisory  committee  of  five 
members  be  appointed  by  the  trustees 
of  the  Institute,  two  of  whom  shall  be 
employers  and  two  employees  engaged 
in  the  steamfitting  business.  The  fifth 
member  of  the  committee,  who  shall  be 
its  chairman,  shall  be  a  representative 
of  the  school. 

(d)  The  authorities  of  the  school,  with  the 
advice  and  assistance  of  the  advisory 

•  committee  so  secured,  are  to  assist  in 
standardizing  the  work  of  this  dull- 
season  school. 

yr    |  hereby  approve  of  the  above  plan  and  agree  to 

I  am   ) 

carry  it  out  so  far  as  we  arg  }  concerned. 

(Signed) 

(Name  of  person  or  firm) 

85 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Specific  trade  agreement 

The  specific  trade  agreement  is  like  the  general 
trade  agreement  in  that  it  specifies  definite 
courses  to  be  completed,  with  the  nature,  time, 
and  other  details  of  the  course.  It  differs  from 
the  other  agreements  in  that  the  employers  here 
agree,  either  to  hire  a  certain  specified  number  of 
graduates  each  year,  term,  or  other  unit  of  time, 
or  to  hire  as  many  of  the  graduates  as  trade  con- 
ditions warrant  at  the  time,  and  to  start  them  at 
a  fixed  wage,  given  in  the  agreement,  and  to  give 
regular  advancement  after  three,  six,  nine  months 
of  work,  or  according  to  some  similar  scheme  of 
wage  agreement. 

The  following  agreement,  from  among  those 
now  in  use  in  the  city  of  Rochester,  will  further 
illustrate  this  kind  of  understanding:  — 

For  Machinists 

i.  That  the  Shop  School  shall  give  to  boys  who 
are  not  less  than  fourteen  years  old  and  who 
have  completed  at  least  the  sixth  grade,  or  pref- 
erably to  boys  who  have  completed  the  work  of 
the  elementary  schools,  a  general  industrial  or 
"try-out"  course  of  such  length  as  the  school 
authorities  may  deem  necessary,  and  shall 

86 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

select  those  who  have  an  aptitude  for  and  an 
ambition  toward  the  trade  of  machinist. 

2.  That  the  Shop  School  shall  give  boys  thus 
selected  a  preparatory  course  of  approximately 
two  years,  one  half  of  each  day  being  spent  in 
shop  practice  and  the  other  half  in  the  study 
of    shop   mathematics,    mechanical   drawing, 
applied  science,  industrial  history,  civics,  and 
English. 

3.  That  upon  the  satisfactory  completion  of  this 
course  the  metal  trades  employers  of  Roch- 
ester shall  employ  these  boys  in  such  num- 
bers as  trade  conditions  and  shop  management 
shall  warrant,  at  the  following  schedule  of 
wages:  — 

$  9.00  per  week  for  the  first  six  months. 

$10.00  per  week  for  the  second  six  months. 

$11.00  per  week  for  the  third  six  months. 

$12.00  per  week  for  the  fourth  six  months. 

(Note).  In  the  event  of  any  boys  earning  by 
piece  work  more  than  the  above  scale,  the 
balance  shall  be  held  back  by  the  employer 
and  paid  to  the  boy  as  a  bonus  at  the  comple- 
tion of  the  two  years'  apprenticeship. 

4.  That  during  the  two  years'  apprenticeship  the 
employer  shall  allow  each  boy,  during  working 
hours,  an  amount  of  time  off  equivalent  to  one 
half-day  each  week,  for  continuing  his  studies, 
such  time  to  be  taken  when  manufacturing 
conditions  will  best  permit. 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

5.  That  the  first  three  months  of  employment, 
as  provided  in  Articles  3  and  4  shall  be  con- 
sidered a  probationary  period  and  the  diploma 
of  the  school  shall  not  be  awarded  until  the 
satisfactory  completion  of  this  probationary 
period. 

6.  That  the  members  of  the  Machine  Industry 
shall  select  a  committee  of  three  of  their  num- 
ber who  shall:  — 

(1)  Inspect  frequently  the  work  of  the  Shop 
School  and  offer  criticisms  and  sugges- 
tions for  the  improvement  of  the  work. 

(2)  Suggest  tests  that  shall  measure  the  pu- 
pil's progress  in  manipulation  skill  and 
technical  knowledge. 

(3)  Suggest   tests   that   shall   measure   the 
qualifications  of  boys  for  graduation. 

Board  of  Education, 

Attention  of  Alfred  P.  Fletcher, 

Assistant  Supt.,  Rochester,  N.Y. 
Gentlemen:  — 

We  are  interested  in  your  proposition  to  train 
boys  for  the  machinists'  trade  and  if  business  con- 
ditions are  normal,  we  shall  be  able,  in  1916,  to  take 
two  boys,  1 8  years  old,  as  apprentices,  after  having 
completed  a  two  years'  course  in  the  Machine 
Department  at  the  Rochester  Shop  School.  These 
boys  will  be  employed  by  us  at  the  following  wage 
scale:  — 

88 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

$  8.00  for  the  first  six  months. 
$  9.00  for  the  second  six  months. 
$10.00  for  the  third  six  months. 
$11.00  for  the  fourth  six  months. 
With  a  bonus  of  $100.00  to  the  boy  who  completes 
two  years'  work  with  us. 

We  would  be  willing  to  allow  the  boy  the  equiva- 
lent of  one  half-day  off  weekly  to  continue  his  work 
in  the  Shop  School  and  would  pay  him  for  this  time. 
Yours  truly, 
EASTMAN  KODAK  Co. 
(Signed)        J.  H.  HASTE,  Mgr. 


Agreement  with  Rochester  Master  Painters  and 
Decorators  Association 

1.  The  Shop  School  shall  give  to  the  boys  who 
are  about  sixteen  years  old  and  who  have  com- 
pleted at  least  the  seventh  grade,  or  prefer- 
ably to  boys  who  have  completed  the  work  of 
the  elementary  schools,  a  general  industrial  or 
"try-out"  course  of  such  length  as  the  school 
authorities  may  deem  necessary,  and  shall  select 
those  who  have  an  aptitude  for  and  an  ambition 
toward  the  trade  of  painting. 

2.  The  Shop  School  shall  give  boys  thus  selected 
a  preparatory  course  of  approximately  two 
years,  one  half  of  each  day  being  spent  in  shop 
practice  and  the  other  half  in  the  study  of 
shop  mathematics,  mechanical   drawing,  ap- 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

plied  science,  industrial  history,  civics,   and 
English. 

3.  Upon  the  satisfactory  completion  of  this  course 
the  painting  employers  of  Rochester  shall  em- 
ploy these  boys  in  such  numbers  as  trade  con- 
ditions or  shop  management  shall  warrant,  at 
the  following  scale  of  wages:  — 

$2.00  per  day  for  the  first  year. 
$2.50  per  day  for  the  second  year. 
$3.00  per  day  for  the  third  year. 

4.  The  members  of  the  Master  Painters  and  Dec- 
orators Association  of  Rochester  shall  select  a 
committee  of  three  of  their  number,  who  shall, 
first,  inspect  frequently  the  work  of  the  Shop 
School  and  offer  suggestions  and  criticisms  for 
the  improvement  of  the  work;  second,  suggest 
tests  that  shall  measure  the  pupils'  progress  in 
manipulative  skill  and  technical  knowledge; 
third,  suggest   tests   that  shall  measure  the 
qualifications  of  the  boys  for  graduation.   At 
a  recent  meeting  of  the  employers  of  painting, 
sixteen,  or  all  present,  agreed  each  to  take  a 
boy  in  1916. 

During  the  second  year  at  school,  the  em- 
ployers will  use  the  boys  whenever  possible, 
and  pay  them  $1.00  per  day. 

Personal  agreements 

In  somes  intances  the  employer  has  agreed 
with  the  individual  apprentice  directly,  offering 
90 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

to  hire  or  increase  the  wages  of  the  worker  named 
in  the  agreement  after  a  certain  number  of  weeks 
spent  in  the  trade-instruction  class,  provided  the 
agreement  is  countersigned  by  the  school  authori- 
ties at  the  completion  of  the  period. 

Of  course  there  is  every  possibility  for  varia- 
tion of  the  above  to  conform  to  local  demands, 
but  the  principle  of  all  trade  agreements  is  the 
same,  to  offer  an  incentive  to  the  beginner  in  the 
school  and  to  provide  assured  outlet  for  the  suc- 
cessful graduates. 

With  the  advice  and  cooperation  of  the  advis- 
ory board,  the  local  investigator  would  now  turn 
his  attention  to  the  problem  of  fixing  the  courses 
of  study  to  be  offered  in  the  different  classes  that 
have  been  decided  upon  as  a  result  of  the  survey 
reports. 

DETERMINING  THE  COURSE  OF  STUDY 
Well-organized,  highly  skilled  trades 

The  simplest  possible  case  is  the  one  where  a 
large  number  of  beginners  are  employed  in  the 
early  processes  of  an  industry  that  follows  these 
processes  by  others,  growing  more  and  more  diffi- 
cult, to  which  but  few  of  these  beginners  succeed 
in  attaining.  Furniture  designing,  interior  deco- 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

rating,  stained-glass  window-making  will  illus- 
trate this  on  the  art  side';  astronomical  lens- 
grinding,  the  boring  and  rifling  of  cannon,  and 
work  of  like  nature  are  other  examples  more 
largely  dependent  on  skill. 

Field  for  advancement 

Where  the  number  of  skilled  workers  offering 
themselves  for  advanced  processes  is  less  than 
the  number  required,  or  where  it  can  be  shown 
that  a  fair  percentage  of  the  beginners  can  be 
provided  for  higher  up  when  they  are  competent 
to  advance,  we  have  a  clear  field.  All  the  indus- 
tries just  mentioned  above  are  in  this  category, 
and  as  a  more  unexpected  instance  it  may  be 
cited  that  the  demand  for  expert  tinsmiths  and 
cornice  workers  now  far  exceeds  the  supply. 

On  what  does  advancement  depend? 

Charles  R.  Richards,  in  his  admirable  treat- 
ment of  this  subject,  points  out  that  the  first 
thing  to  determine  is  whether  the  advancement 
will  depend  upon  skill  alone,  technical  knowl- 
edge alone,  or  a  combination  of  these  two.  Mr. 
O'Leary  divides  technical  knowledge  into  two 
parts,  "trade  knowledge,"  generally  picked  up 
by  the  mechanic  in  his  trade  experience,  and 
92 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

"technical    information,"    which    comes    from 
more  or  less  formal  study  and  training. 

Trade  needs  determine  course 

In  any  case  I  maintain  that  the  course  of  study 
must  be  based  directly  and  in  most  cases  abso- 
lutely upon  the  needs  of  the  industry  itself  and 
not  upon  the  value  of  the  instruction  from  an 
educational  or  pedagogical  point  of  view. 

Need  for  skill 

If  it  can  be  shown  that  skill  alone  is  needed, 
then  skill  must  be  provided  first,  last,  and  al- 
ways, no  matter  what  else  is  taught.  As  exam- 
ples may  be  mentioned  machine-tending,  and 
the  work  of  packing,  boxing,  and  sorting,  ironing 
shirts,  counting  money,  and  many  other  occupa- 
tions of  like  nature.  The  authority  conducting 
the  trade  school  should  then  study  each  successive 
step  in  the  industry  from  a  very  different  stand- 
point from  that  of  the  first  investigation.  He 
should  find  out  in  each  detail  of  the  work  just 
what  skill  is  required.  Consult  with  experts  and 
old  employees  to  find  out  what  parts  in  the  differ- 
ent processes  have  proved  the  greatest  stumbling- 
blocks  to  advancement.  Such  stumbling-blocks 
are  the  laying  of  round  chimneys  for  the  brick- 

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ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

layer,  arches  for  the  mason,  irregular  and  coni- 
cal roof-framing  for  a  carpenter.  He  should  lay 
out  his  course  to  provide  this  skill  in  successive 
steps,  laying  the  greatest  emphasis  upon  those 
parts  that,  in  the  experience  of  the  past,  have 
caused  the  retardation  of  the  largest  number. 
In  other  words,  we  must  teach  pupils  the  specific 
trade  and  the  subjects  taught  must  be  determined 
by  the  actual  demand  of  the  employer. 

Need  of  technical  knowledge 

If  it  be  found  that  technical  knowledge  is 
needed  alone  or  in  connection  with  skill,  provide 
for  this  technical  knowledge,  but  do  not  confuse 
it  with  general  technical  knowledge.  A  carpenter 
wants  no  course  in  general  mechanics,  but  a 
course  in  the  mechanics  of  structural  woodwork- 
ing. Provide  your  technical  knowledge  as  specif- 
ically as  you  provide  skill,  based  upon  the  same 
minute  investigation  of  need  and  consultation 
with  experts.  Whatever  general  principles  are 
needed,  give  them  with  their  immediate  applica- 
tion to  the  business  in  hand. 

Both  skill  and  technical  knowledge  needed 

If  it  be  found  advisable  to  give  both  skill  and 
technical   knowledge,   the   foregoing  principles 
94 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

will  still  apply,  and  the  instruction  in  each  of 
these  branches  should  in  general  be  separated 
from  the  other.  There  are  occasions  when  both 
the  skill  and  the  technical  knowledge  may  be 
given  at  one  and  the  same  time,  when  they  must 
be  given  together;  as  in  the  case  of  a  butcher, 
who  can  only  learn  the  exact  location,  size,  qual- 
ity, etc.,  of  different  cuts  of  meat  by  actually 
engaging  in  the  cutting  of  meat.  In  most  cases, 
however,  the  skill  must  be  given  in  the  shop  inde- 
pendent of  both  general  and  special  information, 
and  the  technical  knowledge  can  be  given  either 
inside  or  outside  of  the  actual  working  place. 
Wherever  it  might  meet,  the  class  in  technical 
information  would  be  organized  as  a  unit  sepa- 
rate from  the  shop  force.  Whenever  a  class  is 
organized  in  this  way,  as  a  distinct  unit,  there  will 
arise  the  question,  Shall  it  be  a  part-time  class, 
meeting  at  hours  set  apart  in  the  daytime,  or  an 
evening  class? 

WHEN  SHALL  THE  INSTRUCTION  BE  GIVEN? 

So  long  as  the  work  is  collateral  with  the  years 
of  apprenticeship  it  must  be  one  of  these  two. 
But  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  question  will  also 
be  raised  as  to  the  value  of  giving  certain  techni- 
cal information  in  an  all-day  school  preceding  the 

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ESTABLISHING   INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

entry  into  industry  or  in  a  similar  school  follow- 
ing the  earlier  years  of  work  and  fitting  for  more 
advanced  positions  yet  to  come. 

The  day  school 

In  such  cases  as  those  presented  by  electric- 
power-plant  engineers  and  operators,  stationary 
steam  engineers,  and  expert  telephone  or  tele- 
graph erecting  foremen  and  inspectors,  there  is 
good  reason  to  believe  that  a  one-year  all-day 
course  preceding  the  actual  entry  into  the  busi- 
ness would  be  valuable.  Certainly  a  one-  or  even 
two-year  all-day  course  following  some  years 
of  apprenticeship  and  directed  to  the  scientific 
study  of  the  advanced  theory  and  practice  of 
these  trades,  together  with  efficiency,  manage- 
ment, etc.,  will  bring  abundant  financial  return  to 
any  competent  man  who  completes  it.  The  chief 
engineer  of  a  large  car-heating  company  told  me 
last  year  that  he  was  not  concerned  for  a  trade 
school  to  teach  the  technique  of  his  business,  nor 
yet  for  a  part-time  school  to  assist  in  such  teach- 
ing. He  wanted  boys  to  come  to  him  already 
grounded  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  shop 
drawing,  shop  arithmetic,  carefulness,  accuracy, 
and  attention  to  all  directions,  just  such  work  as 
is  given  in  the  New  York  general  industrial  day 
96 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

school,  and  maintained  that  he  would  then  teach 
them  his  business  and  guarantee  them  lucrative 
places.  Before  taking  up,  therefore,  the  part-time 
and  evening  schools,  it  will  be  well  to  give  rather 
careful  consideration  to  the  problem  of  all-day 
trade-school  instruction. 

Three  types  of  day  schools 

To  my  thinking,  at  the  present  stage  of  trade 
education  there  are  only  three  types  of  all-day 
industrial  schools  that  can  justify  themselves  for 
public  financial  support.  This  does  not  in  any 
way  reflect  upon  the  value  of  privately  supported 
institutions  which  do  not  correspond  to  one  of 
these  types  and  of  which  there  are  numerous 
excellent  examples  in  this  country. 

The  prevocational  school 

The  first  of  these  three  types  is  the  commonly 
called  prevocational  school,  which  industrializes 
the  final  two  years  of  an  elementary-school 
course,  and  should  be  used  only  in  districts  where 
a  large  number  of  children  attending  the  common 
schools  come  from  the  homes  of  tradespeople,  a 
very  small  percentage  of  whom  would  give  their 
children  schooling  beyond  the  elementary  grades. 

The  course  of  study  in  such  a  school  should 

97 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

bear  upon  a  limited  number  of  the  most  promising 
industries  of  the  locality,  and  if  it  is  partially 
State-supported,  on  a  few  of  the  most  attractive 
general  industries  found  in  the  State.  The  work 
of  all  the  elementary  grades  preceding,  which  can 
be  applied  to  these  industries,  should  be  applied ; 
drawing,  mathematics,  and  whatever  else  can  be 
found  fundamental  to  a  group  of  the  industries 
included  in  the  curriculum  should  be  given  in 
concrete  and  applied  form.  The  shop  work  should 
be  varied  enough  to  discover  the  special  apti- 
tudes of  the  pupils,  but  at  the  same  time  it  should 
consist  of  actual  trade  processes,  done  to  trade 
standards  and  by  the  approved  methods  of  the 
commercial  shop.  The  drawing  and  arithmetic 
should  all  originate  in  the  shops  through  actual 
needs  for  the  same.  Although  the  finishing, 
tracing,  and  blue-printing  may  be  done  in  the 
drafting-room  and  the  mathematics  problems 
worked  out  in  the  classroom,  the  moving  spirit 
of  this  coordinated  work  should  be  an  acknowl- 
edged need  felt  in  the  shop  or  workroom  itself. 

The  elementary  trade  school 

The  second  type  of  school  is  an  elementary 
trade  school,  and  offers  training  for  those  chil- 
dren only  who  are  not  yet  sixteen  years  of  age, 
98 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

who  have  completed  the  regular  common-school 
course  provided  by  the  community,  and  who  have 
definitely  selected  a  trade  which  will  not  allow 
them  to  work  as  apprentices  until  after  their 
sixteenth  birthday.  The  purpose  of  such  a  school 
is  twofold:  to  prepare  for  entrance  into  a  skilled 
trade,  and  to  prevent  young  men  and  women 
entering  blind-alley  and  unskilled  occupations 
because  their  chosen  trade  will  not  be  open  to 
them  for  one  or  two  years.  Such  a  school  should 
not  train,  except  on  a  part-time  basis,  for  any 
calling  that  will  accept  its  pupils  in  general  pro- 
ductive labor.  It  should  not  accept  pupils  who 
have  not  completed  the  common-school  course 
unless  it  conducts  prevocational  classes  similar 
to  those  in  type  one.  The  curriculum  of  such  a 
school  will  be  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  the 
part-time  school  for  the  same  trade,  except  that 
the  shop  work  will  all  be  done  in  the  school  and 
will  include  a  large  number  of  simple  processes 
that  were  omitted  from  the  specific  shop  instruc- 
tion of  pupils  who  are  at  the  same  time  working 
in  the  trade.  The  classroom  instruction  in  sci- 
ence, drawing,  commercial  geography,  shop  math- 
ematics, or  whatever  is  given,  should  be  related 
to  the  real  needs  of  the  trade  and  not  be  influ- 
enced by  the  type  of  work  done  in  the  common 

99 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

schools.  The  shop  work  should  be  laid  out  in  a 
system  of  definite  steps  based  upon  processes 
increasing  in  complexity  and  degree  of  skill  re- 
quired, rather  than  upon  a  series  of  jobs  to  help 
the  pupil  over  stumbling-blocks  and  supplement 
the  daily  work  in  the  trade,  as  was  done  in  the 
part-time  evening  classes.  It  is  often  a  very 
good  idea  to  arrange  these  steps  in  groups,  each 
group  a  short-unit  course  in  form,  but  not  in 
type,  and  these  units  linked  together  in  logical 
order  to  shape  the  student's  complete  experience. 
A  very  large  number  of  these  steps  —  as  many 
as  possible  —  should  be  real  commercial  jobs  and 
not  mere  exercises.  A  trade-school  pupil  might 
better  be  set  to  work  with  practice  material  to 
perfect  himself  in  some  process,  in  order  to  con- 
tinue his  work  upon  a  commercial  job  by  using 
that  process  on  the  job  as  soon  as  he  is  fitted  to 
do  it,  than  to  be  given  an  exercise  piece  upon  that 
process,  only  to  see  the  piece  scrapped  after  com- 
pletion and  another  exercise  take  its  place. 

This  all-day  school  has  two  very  decided  ad- 
vantages over  the  part-time  and  evening  school. 
The  first  is  an  economic  advantage,  that  of  time. 
The  pupil's  entire  day  being  under  the  direction 
of  one  superintendent,  no  time  lost  in  going  and 
coming  from  factory,  and  the  shop  practice  be- 
100 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE  , 

ing  laid  out  more  exactly  than  is  possible  where 
production  commercially  is  part  of  the  scheme, 
enables  the  school  to  cover  more  ground  in  shop 
and  class  instruction  than  can  be  covered  by 
part-time  classes  in  the  same  number  of  days, 
even  if  the  time  given  to  shop  work  is  exactly  the 
same  in  both  cases.  The  second  advantage  is 
pedagogical :  it  is  the  advantage  of  being  able  to 
control  the  pupil's  entire  experience,  class,  shop, 
play,  environment  during  the  daytime,  associ- 
ates, and  instructors,  and  is  more  valuable  for 
younger  than  for  older  pupils.  It  must  be  ac- 
knowledged that  because  of  these  advantages  the 
supporters  of  all-day  trade  schools  for  all  kinds 
of  trade  training  have  some  very  good  arguments; 
but  I  am  still  of  the  opinion  that  where  the  part- 
time  system  can  be  established,  the  advantages 
to  the  apprentice  outweigh  the  losses  of  the  all- 
day  system.  The  time  spent  in  school  will  still 
dominate  much  of  his  experience,  and  there  is  no 
place  in  which  to  learn  promptness,  speed,  obedi- 
ence, trade  standards,  the  value  of  time,  value  of 
material,  value  of  initiative,  the  sociology  of  the 
wage-earner,  and  learn  them  well,  that  is  the 
equal  of  a  well-conducted  shop,  factory,  or  busi- 
ness house. 


101 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

The  advanced  trade  school 

The  third  type  of  all-day  publicly  supported 
trade  school  is  the  other  extreme.  It  is  the  high- 
est type  of  trade  school  imaginable  below  the 
technical  college.  To  it  should  come  men  and 
women  with  distinctly  assigned  educational  re- 
quirements capable  of  sustained  interest  and  an 
appreciation  of  deferred  rewards.  This  school 
should  fit  only  for  those  of  the  high  skilled  indus- 
tries that  demand  a  large  fund  of  technical  in- 
formation which  it  is  difficult  to  acquire  except 
through  an  extended  course  of  training.  Each 
course  should  deal  with  all  the  basic  principles 
of  the  subject,  the  application  of  these  principles, 
their  coordination  in  the  industry,  and  anything 
else  that  can  be  shown  to  be  demanded  for  suc- 
cessful competition  in  that  particular  field. 

For  the  present,  at  least,  I  should  leave  all  the 
industrial  education  that  falls  between  these  two 
extremes  to  the  part-time  day  school,  the  eve- 
ning classes,  and  the  short-unit  courses,  although 
I  am  convinced  that  the  all-day  industrial  school 
must  form  the  cornerstone  of  our  great  American 
system  of  industrial  training,  because  it  stands 
both  below  and  above  the  other  sources  of  train- 
ing. 

102 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

Part-time  and  evening  classes 

We  will  return  now  to  a  discussion  of  the  rela- 
tive value  of  part-time  and  evening  instruction, 
because  the  vast  majority  of  employers  will  de- 
pend upon  either  the  part-time  or  evening  school 
for  the  training  of  their  employees. 

The  part-time  class  has  several  advantages 
over  the  evening  class.  In  the  first  place,  a  full 
and  steady  attendance  is  assured;  it  is  more 
closely  connected  with  real  work  in  the  mind  of 
the  apprentice  if  it  comes  in  working  hours ;  the 
students  are  mentally  more  capable  of  attacking 
new  principles.  In  the  cases  of  street-pavement 
layers,  building  carpenters,  and  men  who  work 
all  day  in  the  open  air,  this  last  factor  is  not  so 
important;  but  for  indoor  workers  in  shops  and 
factories,  salesgirls,  draftsmen,  and  workers  in  all 
such  occupations  the  evening  classes  are  likely  to 
prove  a  mental  and  physical  strain.  The  part- 
time  class  in  a  somewhat  different  form  may  also 
be  adapted  to  the  seasonal  occupations.  A  large 
number  of  occupations,  like  road  construction, 
farming,  and  inland  water  navigation,  cannot  be 
pursued  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  During  slack 
seasons  the  younger  of  the  employees  may  be  in 
attendance  upon  a  part-time  school.  In  much 

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ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

the  same  manner  the  part-time  class  can  be  ar- 
ranged to  fit  the  slack  hours  of  regular  trades.  A 
grocer  needs  his  men  in  the  morning  and  a  baker 
does  not.  A  barber  has  dull  hours  that  are  almost 
always  the  same  from  day  to  day;  similarly  with 
the  hotel-keepers  and  restaurant  proprietors. 
The  part-time  school  may  fit  their  needs  exactly. 
It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  where  the  part- 
time  class  can  be  arranged  for,  it  will  certainly 
give  good  results,  as  will  also  a  combination  of 
part-time  and  evening  work  as  described  later; 
but  considering  all  types  of  classes  that  might  be 
formed  and  the  general  attitude  of  the  employer 
as  it  is  expressed  to-day,  in  most  cases  an  eve- 
ning school  will  do  the  most  good  to  the  largest 
number. 

Right  here  let  me  say  that  two  nights  a  week, 
with  good  attendance  watched  and  enforced,  is 
much  more  valuable  than  four  nights  a  week, 
with  twenty-five  to  forty  per  cent  of  absences, 
no  rigid  rules  of  attendance,  and  consequently 
an  ever-shifting  audience  for  the  instructor.  The 
best  method  of  obtaining  good  attendance  in 
evening  classes  is  through  trade  agreements  with 
unions  and  employers  which  bring  forces  to  bear 
upon  the  apprentice  that  he  cannot  well  afford 
to  affront.  Where  he  is  allowed  certain  credit  in 
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SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

money  or  on  apprenticeship  service  for  his  time 
in  the  evening  classes,  he  is  pretty  likely  to  give 
good  attendance.  Compulsory  attendance  by 
State  law  is  resorted  to  in  some  instances  and 
may  be  worked  out  to  give  very  beneficial  results. 
A  substantial  fee  may  be  charged  on  registering 
and  returned  to  those  having  seventy-five  per 
cent  attendance,  or  all  credit  toward  a  night- 
school  certificate  may  be  dependent  upon  a  fixed 
minimum  attendance  record.  Attendance  in  all 
cooperative  schemes  of  education  is  a  factor  that 
needs  more  consideration  than  it  has  heretofore 
received,  and  we  have  already,  under  "Trade 
agreements,"  mentioned  some  ways  in  which  the 
employer  and  trade  union  may  help  in  the  matter. 

WHERE  SHALL  THE  INSTRUCTION  BE  GIVEN? 

Having  determined  when  the  instruction  in  both 
skill  and  technical  information  is  to  be  given, 
the  authorities  laying  out  the  course  must  deter- 
mine next  where  this  instruction  is  to  be  given. 

In  a  special  building 

Where  skill  alone  is  required  and  can  be  given 
with  an  inexpensive  equipment  in  some  build- 
ing set  aside  for  it,  it  might  better  be  done  in 
this  way.  Most  of  the  skill  needed  for  pattera- 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

making  and  bricklaying  and  the  advanced  work 
in  printing  can  be  given  in  this  way.  It  is  very 
difficult  to  give  this  skill  during  the  regular 
day's  work. 

In  the  plant  during  special  hours 

If  the  equipment  is  large  and  expensive,  such 
as  manufacturing  machinery,  an  arrangement 
should  be  made  to  use  the  machinery  in  the  plant 
itself  out  of  working  hours,  the  cost  being  as- 
sumed by  the  community.  It  is  to  be  understood, 
of  course,  that  the  skill  referred  to  here  is  not  the 
general  skill  that  comes  through  daily  practice 
in  the  routine  of  the  trade,  but  special  skill  which 
can  be  acquired  much  more  quickly  by  specific 
instruction  and  practice,  skill  that  is  difficult  for 
the  apprentice  to  pick  up  in  the  shop,  or  that 
involves  in  the  learning  process  a  waste  of  ma- 
terial, the  skill  that  helps  the  beginner  over  his 
stumbling-blocks.  It  is  the  "quality"  of  skill, 
the  "quantity"  being  left  to  the  commercial 
practices. 

Within  and  without  the  plant 

Where  both  skill  and  technical  knowledge  are 
required,  an  arrangement  might  well  be  made  to 
give  the  former  in  the  shop  or  factory,  under  a 
106 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

rompetent  instructor  working  in  specific  time  set 
aside  from  the  regular  working  day,  while  the 
latter  would  be  given  in  evening  classes  meeting 
in  some  public  school.  The  illustrations  already 
given,  chemical  processes,  wall-paper  designing, 
gunsmithing,  electrical  and  stationary  engineer- 
ing, machinists,  optical  workers,  and  scores  of 
other  highly  skilled  trades,  require  skill  and 
technical  knowledge,  and  the  equipment  for  ac- 
quiring skill  is  too  large  and  expensive  to  be 
duplicated  in  the  ordinary  trade  school.  In  such 
cases  the  apprentice  should  be  paid  for  the  time 
given  to  instruction  in  the  shop. 

Reorganization  within  the  plant 

Under  certain  conditions  this  shop  instruction 
can  be  given  to  apprentices  during  working  hours 
and  in  connection  with  regular  productive  labor, 
instead  of  using  the  plant  out  of  working  hours  in 
time  specifically  set  aside  for  instruction.  In  such 
a  case  the  authorities  in  charge  of  the  instruction 
must  insist  upon  a  reorganization  of  the  appren- 
ticeship work  in  the  factory  to  cooperate  with  the 
organization  of  the  trade  school.  Under  an  ar- 
rangement of  this  kind,  the  theory  of  wall-paper 
design  would  be  taught  in  a  class  meeting  for 
instruction  purposes  only,  while  the  same  appren- 
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ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

tices  would  acquire  drawing  technique  during 
their  regular  daily  work  of  tracing,  coloring,  en- 
larging and  modifying  the  designs  of  others. 
Chemical  and  metallurgical  processes,  comple- 
mentary drawing  and  mathematics  for  skilled 
trades  like  gunsmithing,  tool-  and  cutter-making, 
etc.,  would  form  the  basis  of  class  instruction, 
the  skill  being  given  in  a  reorganized  apprentice- 
ship instruction  upon  the  shop  floor.  Certain 
parts  of  the  technical  work,  which  would  be 
classified  under  Mr.  O'Leary's  head  of  "  trade 
knowledge,"  might  be  more  readily  taught  in  the 
shop,  in  conjunction  with  skill,  than  in  the  class- 
room and  would  be  so  arranged.  There  would 
also  be  cases  where  the  more  formal  technical 
information  would  need  to  be  taught  in  the  shop, 
as  the  theory  and  practice  of  indexing  on  a  miller, 
but  it  would  be  done  in  time  specifically  set  aside 
for  the  instructor's  use,  and  not,  like  skill,  in  the 
daily  routine  of  work. 

Master  of  apprentices 

That  part  of  the  factory  work  which  is  to  pro- 
vide the  skill  must  be  under  the  direction  of  a 
competent  master  of  apprentices,  who  shall  be 
responsible  for  their  training  in  skill,  so  that  it 
will  not  be  left  to  the  haphazard  attention  of  the 
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SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

foreman  or  superintendent.  Mr.  Magnus  Alex- 
ander, of  the  General  Electric  Company  in  Lynn, 
Massachusetts,  was  especially  designated  by 
that  company  to  direct  the  work  of  its  appren- 
tices. The  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Rail- 
road employs  a  master  of  apprentices,  who,  with 
the  aid  of  numerous  assistants,  directs  the  begin- 
ner's training  throughout  the  entire  system.  The 
master  workman  holding  such  a  position  must 
lay  out  the  processes  to  be  taught  in  a  definite 
and  systematic  plan,  rotate  his  apprentices  so 
that  each  one  will  pass  through  the  series  of  proc- 
esses, give  such  assistance  as  is  needed,  keep  an 
individual  record  of  the  accomplishment  of  each 
apprentice,  and  keep  in  touch  with  the  classroom 
work,  if  there  is  any. 

Dangers  to  be  avoided 

The  danger  of  this  system  is  the  exploitation 
of  the  boy.  When  he  works  in  regular  hours  at 
regular  work,  the  tendency  to  keep  him  on  one 
job  which  he  is  doing  well  and  rapidly  is  well-nigh 
irresistible.  When  properly  done,  this  method  of 
rotation  at  regular  work  will  give  even  better  re- 
sults than  segregative  instruction  in  all  the  lower 
grades  of  skill  and  in  most  of  the  higher  grades, 
excepting  only  such  high-grade  work  as  requires 
109 


ESTABLISHING   INDUSTRIAL   SCHOOLS 

the  constant  attention  of  one  instructor  and 
where  the  processes  of  production  are  slow  and 
expensive,  like  steel  engraving  and  high-grade 
optical  work.  The  employer  will  benefit  materi- 
ally by  all  this  instructing  of  apprentices;  I  be- 
lieve thoroughly  in  the  system  commonly  used  in 
Europe,  where  the  apprentice  attends  school 
about  ten  hours  a  week,  four  on  his  employer's 
time  and  six  on  his  own  time. 

Wherever  a  community  feels  that  it  is  advis- 
able to  do  some  of  the  instructing  in  the  daytime 
on  the  employer's  time,  the  employer  should 
willingly  cooperate,  but  if  he  refuses,  a  law  com- 
pelling him  to  allow  such  instruction  would  be 
justifiable.  On  the  other  hand,  the  instruction 
so  given  must  bear  directly  upon  his  work: 
namby-pamby  courses,  general  education,  etc., 
ought  not  to  be  provided  at  the  expense  of  an 
employer. 

ART  IN  INDUSTRY 

This  subject  is  so  closely  related  to  courses  of 
study  that  must  be  pursued  in  training  for  the 
advanced  positions  of  many  of  the  well-organized 
and  highly  skilled  trades,  and  lends  itself  so  read- 
ily to  formal  instruction  in  any  type  of  trade 
school,  that  it  has  been  found  inadvisable  to  re- 
no 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

late  it  specifically  to  any  of  the  foregoing  topics. 
It  well  deserves  a  title  of  its  own. 

Whoever  is  planning  any  of  the  courses  of  in- 
struction heretofore  referred  to  must  give  careful 
consideration  to  the  place  in  the  course  that  shall 
be  assigned  to  instruction  in  the  theory  and  prac- 
tical application  of  the  principles  of  art,  taste, 
and  design  required  for  perfection  in  the  trade. 
Some  idea  of  the  wide  application  of  such  train- 
ing may  be  had  from  a  glance  at  the  following  list 
of  occupations  in  the  city  of  Minneapolis  which 
have  deserved  a  study  especially  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  art  involved :  — 

Agricultural  implements,  artificial  stone,  auto- 
mobiles, baskets,  boots,  shoes,  brass  and  bronze 
products,  brick  and  tiles,  boxes,  paper,  fancy 
goods,  rattan,  willow  split,  bicycles,  department 
and  retail  store  purchase  and  display,  architects, 
advertisers,  carpenters,  painters,  interior  deco- 
rators, paper  hangers,  and  many  others. 

To  determine  exactly  what  place  art  shall  have 
in  the  outline  of  work  and  the  exact  nature  of  the 
instruction  to  be  given,  we  must  again  resort  to 
an  investigation  of  the  trade  itself. 

What  positions  are  there  where  the  employees 
can  exercise  taste?  What  training  are  they  re- 
ceiving in  this  direction?  Do  they  succeed  in 
in 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

getting  all  the  training  needed  under  present 
conditions?  Is  there  a  demand  by  the  consumer 
for  improvement  in  the  appearance  of  the  prod- 
uct? Could  a  training  be  given  to  those  seeking 
the  positions  listed  above  that  would  enable  them 
to  satisfy  this  demand?  Exactly  what  should  this 
training  be?  Should  it  accent  color,  form,  finish, 
or  quality,  —  all  of  them,  or  which  of  them?  Is 
design,  original  or  adapted,  an  important  factor? 
Where  the  trade  involves  distributing  rather 
than  producing,  it  is  desirable  to  know  whether 
color,  harmony,  line,  textures,  proportions,  and 
the  acquisition  of  a  convincing  vocabulary  along 
these  lines  will  prove  desirable.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, the  making  of  book-covers,  carpets  and 
rugs,  cut-glass,  draperies,  embroidery,  furniture, 
jewelry,  millinery,  ribbons,  toys  and  notions,  — 
the  art  for  production  is  not  the  same  as  that 
needed  for  distribution.  Design,  originality,  a 
mastery  of  color  harmony,  a  knowledge  of  the 
relationship  of  the  design  to  the  actual  process 
of  manufacture,  and  the  demand  of  the  con- 
sumer are  necessary  for  production.  To  sell  these 
wares  requires  no  special  ability  in  design,  a  good 
knowledge  of  color  harmony,  no  knowledge  of  the 
principles  of  manufacture,  but  a  close  touch 
with  the  demand  of  the  consumer.  It  demands  a 
112 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

training  in  taste,  proportion,  finish,  quality,  an 
ability  to  read  human  nature,  and  a  vocabulary 
sufficient  to  cover  any  emergency.  Which  of 
these  can  and  should  be  provided  for? 

It  is  not  the  business  of  the  trade  school  to 
train  the  general  consumer  in  the  artistic  appreci- 
ation necessary  for  intelligent  consumption,  — • 
that  is,  for  the  purchase  and  use  of  such  articles 
as  pictures,  clothing,  furniture,  carpets,  and 
other  furnishings  of  like  nature,  —  except  as  an 
incidental  education  that  must  come  along  with 
preparation  for  vocational  efficiency.  Such  train- 
ing as  a  major  part  of  the  work  belongs  to  prac- 
tical arts  courses  in  general  education,  in  pub- 
lic schools,  in  art  schools,  and  in  the  various 
institutes. 

With  a  clear  understanding  of  the  foregoing 
principles  and  a  careful  investigation  of  each 
trade  or  occupation  to  determine  its  exact  oppor- 
tunities and  requirements,  the  place  of  art  in 
industry  should  be  readily  determined  for  each 
course  of  study  projected. 

UNORGANIZED  OR  LOW-SKILLED  TRADES 

We  shall  next  consider  an  industry  that  has  not 
sufficient  outlook  in  advanced  processes  to  war- 
rant an  extended  training  in  part-time  or  evening 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

classes,  but  in  which  limited  but  rather  prompt 
advancement  can  be  expected  through  training 
in  short-unit  courses.  We  may  again  refer  to 
paper-box  making,  fifteen  per  cent  of  which  is 
too  difficult  to  be  picked  up  on  the  shop  floor;  to 
special  hand  laundry  work,  machine-tending,  of 
a  somewhat  advanced  type,  such  as  paper-cut- 
ting and  folding  apparatus,  which  must  be  ad- 
justed for  each  job,  and  the  more  advanced  units 
of  such  highly  specialized  industries  as  shoe- 
making  and  automobile  manufacturing. 

Short-unit  courses 

The  short-unit  course  has  been  devised  espe- 
cially to  meet  these  conditions.  It  is  provided  to 
meet  the  needs  of  people  who  want  only  a  limited 
amount  of  instruction,  who  must  have  immediate 
help,  and  who  are  not  as  a  rule  expected  to  con- 
tinue a  long  and  systematic  course  of  instruction 
for  high-skilled  positions.  The  short-unit  courses 
should  be  laid  out  as  a  series  of  distinct  problems, 
five  or  ten  at  the  most,  each  one  complete  in  itself 
with  all  its  correlated  work.  The  pupil  on  enter- 
ing should  know  exactly  what  his  first  problem  is. 
It  should  include  the  ability  to  do  quickly  and 
well  some  one  thing  needed  for  a  step  f orward  in 
his  commercial  work.  It  should  not  be  some  par- 
114 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

tial  process,  fundamental  principle,  or  general 
rule;  it  should  be  a  specific,  concrete  job,  to  be 
done,  with  or  without  the  "why,"  as  the  case 
may  be. 

Thus,  in  the  paper-box  class  the  lesson  might 
hinge  upon  the  figuring-out  of  the  amount  of 
stock  needed  to  fill  an  exact  copy  of  an  order 
taken  from  the  books  of  the  company,  or  it  might 
refer  to  so  simple  a  process  as  the  holding  of  a 
box  and  applying  the  paper  jacket  where  this 
is  not  done  by  automatic  machinery;  the  first 
laundry  lesson  would  teach  the  proper  method 
of  ironing  one  garment;  a  machine-tender  would 
be  shown  the  safest  and  most  rapid  method  of 
setting  up  and  feeding  one  machine;  and  so  on 
through  the  entire  list.  The  pupil  should  go 
away  from  his  first  lesson  realizing  what  he  has 
learned  and  wishing  he  had  known  it  before. 
When  the  first  problem  is  completed,  he  should 
have  the  feeling  of  having  definitely  finished  one 
useful  thing. 

Series  of  courses 

It  is  better  to  have  a  series  of  short  courses, 
each  of  five  or  ten  problems,  and  register  for  each 
course,  than  to  lay  out  a  long  series  of  lessons 
based  upon  fundamental  processes  to  be  mastered 


ESTABLISHING   INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

first  and  applied  later  on.  The  maker  of  a  short- 
unit  course  should  work  like  a  clipping  editor  by 
stepping  into  the  industry  itself  and  cutting  out 
step  after  step  for  his  course  from  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  actual  jobs  which  he  finds  are  neces- 
sary for  advancement. 

Training  for  allied  industries 

Let  us  next  take  up  an  industry  that  in  itself 
offers  little  advancement,  but  has  several  allied 
industries  that  afford  rather  attractive  fields. 
Upholstering  and  leather-working,  drop-forging 
of  steel  axles,  making  rubber  tires,  and  painting 
and  decorating  have  been  mentioned  already  as 
offering  better  fields  of  advancement  than  those 
found  in  the  central  assembling  factory  of  many 
automobile  and  carriage  firms. 

If  one  or  more  of  these  fields  are  worthy  of  reg- 
ular trade  training  in  skill  or  technical  informa- 
tion, we  have  already  covered  the  ground  with 
our  discussion  of  part-time  and  evening  classes. 
If  each  allied  trade,  too  simple  for  extended 
training,  can  be  covered  by  short-unit  courses,  we 
have  again  touched  upon  every  phase  of  this 
work,  excepting  one,  the  possibility  of  grouping 
these  allied  industries  for  the  purpose  of  instruc- 
tion. 

116 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

Allied  groups 

After  laying  out  a  definite  course  in  each  allied 
trade,  compare  these  courses  and  determine 
whether  there  are  technical  principles  and  general 
information  that  form  the  underlying  basis  of  a 
group  of  these  trades,  and  if  so,  form  combined 
classes  in  these  subjects.  This  is  much  more 
likely  to  be  true  of  a  series  of  simple  allied  trades 
or  divisions  of  work  grouped  around  one  central 
industry  than  it  is  of  a  number  of  separate  indus- 
tries not  so  related.  It  must  not  be  confused  with 
the  "common  content"  idea,  which  proposes  to 
relate  a  group  of  diversified,  high-skilled  trades 
through  general  principles  that  underlie  the 
group.  The  relationship  here  is  specific  and  is 
based  upon  a  comparison  of  the  courses  actually 
laid  out  for  each  division.  There  are  several  dis- 
tinct trades  or  branches  of  the  industry  connected 
with  the  making  of  yam;  the  same  is  true  of  the 
leather  industries,  of  furniture-making,  and  of 
paper-making.  Many  of  these  divisions  are  sim- 
ple enough  for  short-unit  courses  and  are  really 
allied  trades.  A  fund  of  general  information 
about  the  central  industry  runs  through  each 
allied  trade,  and  general  technical  principles  will 
be  found  that  are  necessary  to  each  division. 
117 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

These  should  be  carefully  sifted  out  and  com- 
bined classes  formed  for  their  presentation. 

If  the  same  kind  and  degree  of  skill  are  needed, 
but  with  different  applications,  give  this  skill 
first.  This  would  be  the  case,  for  instance,  in 
bleaching  and  dyeing.  Wherever  possible,  group 
these  allied  trades  or  divisions,  give  principles 
and  manipulation  common  to  the  group,  and 
specialize  afterward  in  a  short-unit  course  for 
each  division.  This  not  only  saves  time  and  ex- 
pense, except  where  there  are  a  large  number  of 
beginners  for  every  allied  trade,  but  allows  a  se- 
lection of  occupation  after  some  experience,  gives 
a  firmer  foundation,  makes  it  easier  to  take  up 
another  trade  in  case  of  economic  necessity,  and 
broadens  the  scope  of  a  beginner's  vision  as  he 
looks  over  the  industrial  field. 

FITTING  FOR  A  NEW  OCCUPATION 

When  the  problem  is  to  take  men  and  women 
•who  are  working  in  one  industry  and  put  them  in 
a  trade  school,  in  order  to  fit  them  for  another 
industry  that  demands  adult  labor,  or  offers  no 
opportunity  for  young  beginners  to  enter  the  in- 
dustry as  apprentices  or  otherwise,  the  treatment 
is  radically  different. 


118 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

Related  to  apprentice's  work 

There  is  just  a  possibility  that  there  may  be 
points  of  likeness  and  contact  between  the  indus- 
tries in  which  the  children  are  working  and  those 
which  are  demanding  adults,  but  this  is  very 
unlikely.  If  such  a  point  of  contact  can  be  found 
for  any  two  of  the  industries,  it  should  be  used  as 
the  connecting  link  between  that  which  the  chil- 
dren are  doing  and  the  work  they  will  be  expected 
to  do,  and  the  course  of  study  in  our  trade  school 
should  begin  by  exemplifying  this  relationship 
and  building  upon  it  as  a  foundation.  The  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  such  points  of  contact  may 
also  be  used  in  determining  the  advisability  of 
attempting  to  fit  for  certain  industries  in  the 
State,  where  the  beginners  must  come  from  mi- 
nors already  employed  in  other  lines  of  work. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  young  boy  serving 
an  apprenticeship  as  a  chauffeur;  the  trade  itself 
is  not  skilled  enough  to  warrant  years  of  appren- 
ticeship, and  the  laws  in  most  States  and  employ- 
ers in  all  States  forbid  young  boys  the  opportu- 
nity of  learning  in  actual  practice.  The  chauffeur's 
trade,  however,  is  a  very  good  trade,  and  a  city 
might  be  justified  in  taking  young  men  in  shops 
and  factories,  where  they  are  familiar  with  ma- 
119 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

chinery  and  the  use  of  tools,  and  training  them, 
in  courses  of  short-unit  type,  to  fill  positions  as 
chauffeurs.  The  same  city  might  refuse  to  train 
grocer's  clerks,  bookkeepers,  and  errand  boys  for 
the  chauffeur's  trade,  on  the  ground  that  the 
total  lack  of  connection  between  their  work  in  and 
out  of  school  would  necessitate  a  much  longer  and 
more  expensive  training  than  the  city  would  be 
justified  in  giving  for  so  simple  a  trade. 

Not  related  to  student's  present  work     . 

In  most  cases  there  will  be  an  abrupt  line  of 
separation  between  the  two  lines  of  work.  It 
must  now  be  remembered  that  the  pupils  in  our 
trade  school  are  to  be  dependent  upon  the  school 
alone  for  their  success.  There  will  be  no  coordina- 
tion or  cooperation  between  the  school  and  their 
daily  experiences,  nor  will  there  be  a  background 
of  skill  or  technical  atmosphere  to  draw  upon 
during  instruction.  This  is  a  more  difficult  case 
than  any  we  have  considered  before.  In  the  short 
time  allotted  to  evening  work,  we  must  give  all 
the  skill,  all  the  special  information,  and  all  the 
atmosphere  that  is  needed  for  a  new  trade.  The 
curriculum  in  this  case  must  be  absolutely  deter- 
mined by  the  needs  of  the  new  job.  It  must  not 
give  an  unessential  thing,  and,  since  time  is  so 
1 20 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

valuable,  it  should  be  planned  step  by  step  to 
the  very  end  before  the  first  lesson  is  given,  so 
that  if  it  exceeds  the  allotted  time,  it  may  be  re- 
arranged according  to  the  trade  value  of  each  di- 
vision. It  cannot  give  technical  information  and 
leave  skill  to  the  daily  practice  in  the  shop;  it 
cannot  give  the  most  essential  points  in  skill  and 
leave  the  little  ones  to  come  by  practice;  it  must 
give  every  detail  of  skill  and  technical  knowledge 
that  it  expects  to  make  use  of  at  any  time  in  the 
entire  course.  It  should  plan  for  visits  to  the  in- 
dustry, in  small  groups,  and  covering  one  phase 
at  each  visit.  There  should  be  talks,  pictures, 
exhibits  given  by  experts  in  the  industry,  to 
produce  the  right  atmosphere  and  to  correct 
any  false  environment  that  might  exist  in  the 
old  industry  which  claims  their  daily  labors.  The 
instructors  here  should  be  experts  in  the  indus- 
try studied.  Finally,  the  time  allowed  must  be 
greater  than  in  previous  cases. 

With  these  restrictions  I  believe  this  work  can 
be  done  successfully. 

WOMAN'S  WORK 

Up  to  this  point  the  principal  emphasis  has 
been  put  upon  the  work  for  men,  but  along  with 
this  problem  of  taking  men  from  one  industry 
121 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

and  fitting  them  for  another  comes  this  much 
broader  but  much  simpler  problem  of  fitting 
women  for  the  home  while  they  are  at  work  in 
some  gainful  occupation  that  offers  no  future. 
Even  if  it  does  offer  a  future,  the  majority  of 
these  women  and  girls  will  at  some  time  be  home- 
makers.  If  they  leave  productive  labor  and  oc- 
cupy themselves  exclusively  in  the  home,  this 
becomes  their  occupation  in  life  and  demands  a 
fit  training;  if  they  remain  in  industry  and  also 
keep  up  a  home,  as  thousands  do,  there  is  all  the 
more  need  for  the  most  scientific  and  concise 
training  to  provide  direct  and  economical  meth- 
ods, short  cuts,  time-saving  appliances,  and 
healthful,  wholesome,  and  attractive  ideas  for 
eating,  sleeping,  and  living.  Moreover,  the  blind- 
alley  and  short-term  occupations  are  filled  with 
women  and  girls,  the  shift  in  personnel  of  employ- 
ees is  kaleidoscopic,  and  every  normal  woman  has 
some  ideal  of  her  own  home.  This  question  has 
been  written  upon  and  spoken  about  so  con- 
stantly that  it  will  be  useless  for  me  to  present 
further  arguments. 

Home-making 

Training  as  housewives  should  be  given.    It 
should  comprise  sewing,  undergarment  making, 

122 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

making  of  children's  clothing,  mending  and  mak- 
ing-over garments,  and  simple  dressmaking. 
Every  article  should  be  practical,  complete,  and 
ready  to  wear  when  accepted.  Directly  corre- 
lated with  the  above  should  be  enough  element- 
ary textiles  to  determine  the  nature,  quality,  and 
reasonable  cost  of  the  most  common  dress  goods, 
with  simple  tests  for  wool,  cotton,  linen,  etc.,  and 
enough  laundry  to  give  the  methods  of  washing 
different  materials  and  colors;  soaps,  simple  dye- 
ing, and  bleaching. 

It  should  comprise  cooking,  a  purely  manipu- 
lative course,  telling  what  to  cook  and  how  to 
cook  it,  the  selection  of  meats  and  vegetables 
from  economic  and  dietary  standpoints,  chil- 
dren's foods,  some  simple  invalid  dietaries  and 
home  tests  for  determining  the  purity  of  food- 
stuffs, freshness  of  eggs,  and  similar  points. 

It  should  comprise  home  science:  ventilation 
with  window  boards  and  cotton  screens;  care  of 
fires;  sanitation  of  sinks,  traps,  cupboards,  etc.; 
some  few  lessons  on  common  bacteria,  with  de- 
tection and  prevention;  lighting,  with  cost  of 
same;  personal  hygiene;  and  the  science  of  home 
accounting,  with  the  value  of  cost-keeping, 
weighing  and  measuring,  and  buying  in  bulk.  I 
presume  the  expert  domestic-science  teacher  will 
123 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

say  that  much  is  left  out  of  the  above  and  the 
uninformed  will  maintain  that  all  this  can  be 
learned  in  the  home;  but  to  the  first  I  answer 
that  these  women  want  definite  daily  problems 
only,  stripped  of  all  theory  excepting  the  simplest 
and  that  most  easily  applied ;  and  to  the  second  I 
say,  simply,  visit  their  homes. 

Woman's  trade  training 

In  respect  to  the  regular  trade  training  of 
women  to  earn  a  livelihood,  I  should  not  wish, 
because  of  the  emphasis  previously  laid  upon 
man's  work,  to  appear  unmindful  or  inapprecia- 
tive  of  the  immediate  and  growing  need  for  inves- 
tigation into  all  women-employing  industries,  as 
such,  whether  men  are  also  employed  or  not. 

In  the  vast  department-store  industry  and 
with  all  retail  firms  lies  a  most  promising  field. 
Not  only  are  employers  willing  and  anxious  to 
cooperate  in  any  school  for  salesgirls,  but  the 
minimum-wage  law,  now  coming  into  operation 
in  our  States,  will  make  such  instruction  indis- 
pensable to  the  girl  herself.  When  the  minimum 
wage  of  a  sales  position  is  automatically  raised 
from  $6  to  $9,  for  instance,  the  firm  will  at  once 
comply  and  pay  the  $9,  but  they  will  not  pay  it 
to  a  $6  girl.  The  employee  must  earn  $9,  or  give 
124 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

way  to  some  one  else,  perhaps  from  some  other 
city  or  State,  who  can  earn  the  minimum  allowed 
by  law.  The  $6  girl  has  only  two  alternatives, 
increase  her  earning  capacity  or  get  out.  The 
demand  for  trades  courses  in  the  art  of  selling, 
conducted  by  the  community,  assisted  by  the 
mercantile  firms,  taught  by  experienced  salesmen 
and  saleswomen  who  have  also  been  trained  in 
the  art  of  instructing,  will  be  felt  immediately 
in  every  State  where  the  minimum  wage  is 
adopted. 

The  same  will  be  true  of  like  classes  in  all  lines 
of  wage-earning  occupations  for  women. 

TRAINING  IN  GENERAL  EFFICIENCY 

Up  to  this  time  we  have  held  ourselves  con- 
sistently to  a  discussion  of  courses  of  study  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  work  which  the  pupils 
are  doing  in  the  trades  or  with  the  work  of  some 
industry  into  which  they  are  expected  to  go.  A 
great  danger  lies  in  the  tendency  of  professional 
teachers  to  drift  away  from  the  immediate  issue 
and  actual  concrete  problems  because  of  their 
own  training  and  their  own  ability  to  evaluate 
mediate  interests.  The  employee  and  his  em- 
ployer have  no  such  ability,  taken  in  the  large, 
and  the  time  and  intellectual  equipment  at  the 
125 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

disposal  of  the  trade  teacher  forbids  this  ideal 
method  of  treatment. 

This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  we  are  to 
make  human  machines  of  our  pupils.  There  are 
many  other  things  that  can  be  given  besides  skill 
and  technical  knowledge  which  will  be  a  distinct 
benefit  to  the  young  worker  in  his  trade.  Thus, 
his  own  physical  condition  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance, as  are  the  habits  that  improve  or  re- 
tard it. 

Accuracy,  care,  forethought,  method,  and  the 
habit  of  thinking  about  his  work,  the  work  of 
others,  and  possible  improvements  are  indispen- 
sable to  a  mechanic's  preferment;  but  a  preach- 
ment on  alcohol,  a  course  in  ethics,  and  training 
in  the  psychological  processes  of  thought  will 
accomplish  nothing.  These  subjects  are  not  to  be 
written  into  the  course  of  study  of  the  pupil,  but 
into  that  of  his  teacher.  They  are  to  be  absorbed, 
to  be  acquired  as  habits  are  acquired  by  imita- 
tion and  the  influence  of  environment  set  up  by 
his  instructor.  You  cannot  teach  cleanliness  to  a 
group  of  boys  when  their  instructor  is  spitting 
tobacco  juice  into  a  sawdust  pile,  or  exhort  them 
into  systematic  methods  when  they  are  searching 
all  over  the  shop  or  tool  room  to  find  some  mis- 
placed tool  or  piece  of  stock.  These  things,  to- 
126 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

gether  with  thoughtfulness  for  fellow  workmen, 
duties  to  one's  employer  as  regards  wasted  time 
or  material,  and  the  other  personal  traits  that 
make  a  man  popular  with  his  fellows  and  valu- 
able to  his  superiors,  must  be  soaked  in,  daily, 
almost  unconsciously,  because  of  the  persistent 
forethought  and  example  of  the  instructor,  and 
because  the  pupil,  in  following  this  example  and 
actually  putting  its  principles  into  practice, 
makes  them  a  component  part  of  his  shop  experi- 
ence rather  than  of  his  course  of  instruction. 

General  education  in  trade  schools 

And  now  arises  the  oft-mooted  question,  Shall 
we  teach  some  general  education  in  our  industrial 
schools? 

So  far  as  I  can  see,  this  question  resolves  itself 
into  a  simple  analysis  of  the  needs  of  the  minors 
under  consideration  and  into  the  question  of 
whose  business  it  is  to  supply  these  needs.  The 
all-day  industrial  school,  as  indicated  before, 
either  completes  the  general  education  or  builds 
upon  it  and  extends  it  to  provide  the  means  of  ad- 
vanced training.  It  must  give  general  education, 
of  course,  and,  wherever  it  draws  public  funds,  it 
should  be  compelled  to  train  for  citizenship. 

For  the  part-time  school,  the  evening  classes, 
127 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

and  short-unit  courses,  the  first  matter  to  be  con- 
sidered is,  Are  they  supported  by  public  funds? 
If  they  are  not  supported  by  public  funds,  the 
question  of  general  education  must  be  left  to  the 
authorities  conducting  the  school.  If  they  are 
wholly  or  in  part  supported  by  the  public,  then 
the  public  has  a  right  to  demand  that  training 
for  good  citizenship  be  given  in  all  these  classes; 
but  in  my  judgment  it  is  inadvisable,  from  a 
practical  standpoint,  ever  to  enforce  this  right  in 
the  case  of  short-unit  courses;  and  it  is  foolish 
to  force  it  upon  the  other  classes  until  a  careful 
investigation  has  shown  that  proper  training  in 
this  subject  has  not  been  given  and  cannot  be 
given  in  the  public  schools. 

Civic  training 

By  civic  training  in  this  instance  is  meant 
specific  classroom  instruction  in  the  duties  of 
citizenship,  not  the  thousand  and  one  little  side- 
lights on  good  citizenship  that  are  intimately 
connected  with  industrial  life  and  may  be  em- 
phasized by  a  good  shop  teacher  many  times  in 
the  course  of  a  year.  Unquestionably  the  appren- 
tice should  be  trained  in  citizenship ;  but  it  may 
be  better  for  the  State  to  improve  this  training 
in  the  common  schools  and  restrict  the  entrance 
128 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

into  publicly  supported  part-time  and  evening 
schools  until  after  such  training  has  been  received. 

Formal  civic  training  may  be  impossible  at  the 
early  age  at  which  the  apprentices  leave  the  com- 
mon school;  it  may  be  impossible  to  interest 
them  in  civic  ideas  divorced  from  their  industrial 
ideas,  but  if  it  is  possible  to  give  it  in  connection 
with  the  general  education,  it  is  much  better 
there  than  as  a  part  of  the  industrial  course.  Our 
experience  has  shown  that  the  apprentices,  in 
evening  classes,  at  least,  have  no  more  interest 
in  civic  training  and  are  no  more  adapted  to  it 
than  the  children  of  the  upper  grammar  grades. 
The  burden  of  proof  should  rest  with  those  who 
desire  to  add  civic  training  to  the  industrial 
course. 

At  all  events,  no  training  of  a  general  nature, 
civic  or  otherwise,  unless  it  is  absolutely  needed 
for  the  trade  work,  should  be  given  in  time  paid 
for  by  the  employer  unless  he  consents  to  the 
same.  When  he  pays  the  taxes  of  his  local  schools, 
he  is  providing  his  share  of  the  expense  of  the 
general  educational  training  of  the  community. 

This  will  not  operate  as  a  hindrance  in  case  of 
the  half-time  system  and  such  cooperative  sys- 
tems, where  the  employer  agrees  to  pay  a  certain 
fixed  wage  for  the  pupil's  entire  time,  half  to  be 
129 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

spent  in  his  shop  and  half  in  the  school.  The  wage 
scale  is  fixed  according  to  the  specific  agreement, 
and  the  success  of  the  plan  requires  an  entire 
agreement  between  the  school  and  the  employ- 
ers, not  only  regarding  the  courses  to  be  given  in 
the  school,  but  also  regarding  the  jobs  to  be  given 
in  the  shops. 

The  particular  danger  lies  in  empowering  a 
community  to  take  apprentices  out  of  a  shop  or 
factory  for  certain  hours  a  week,  compelling  the 
employer  to  pay  the  same  wage  .as  before,  and 
then  using  this  time  for  general  education  or  civic 
training.  Such  a  course,  although  justified  where 
the  training  given  on  the  employer's  time  is 
strictly  trade  training  which  the  apprentice  needs 
for  advancement  and  is  not  getting  in  the  shop, 
cannot  be  justified  where  the  training  is  not  re- 
lated to  his  shop  work  and  consequently  does 
not  offer  his  employer  any  return  for  the  time  he 
is  compelled  to  pay  for.  If  the  employer  agrees, 
there  can  be  no  legal  objection. 

Regarding  general  education  other  than  civic, 
every  State  should  have  a  minimum  general  edu- 
cation without  which  no  normal  child  should  be 
permitted  to  leave  the  public  school  except  under 
special  provision  for  continuation  work.  Where 
the  pupils  of  an  industrial  part-time  and  evening 
130 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

school  can  be  shown  to  have  passed  this  mini- 
mum educational  requirement,  the  public  should 
not  have  authority  to  force  general  education  in 
these  schools.  Where  the  pupils  have  not  com- 
pleted this  minimum  requirement,  the  school 
would  be  a  continuation  school  and  would  be 
compelled  to  offer  general  work  enough  to  com- 
plete the  minimum  course.  Short-unit  courses 
should  never  be  continuation  courses,  but  they 
might  be  included  as  a  distinct  unit  in  the  work 
of  a  continuation  school. 

General  education  needed  for  industrial 
efficiency 

Nothing  in  the  above  should  be  construed  to 
indicate  that  industrial  school  authorities  are  not 
to  be  permitted  to  offer  general  education  when- 
ever such  courses  are  deemed  advisable  for  the 
advancement  of  their  pupils  in  the  industry. 
Under  such  circumstances  the  authorities  must 
again  investigate  the  industry  in  the  training  for 
which  they  propose  to  include  this  general  edu- 
cation. 

What  is  the  average  schooling  of  the  beginner 
now  going  into  the  industry?  Is  the  industrial 
progress  hampered  most  by  lack  of  trade  train- 
ing, lack  of  brains,  or  lack  of  general  education? 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

Recall  again  the  car-heating  engineer,  who  stated 
that  his  beginners  were  hampered  very  largely 
for  lack  of  general  training,  and  not  for  want  of 
specific  trade  instruction.  Would  this  general 
training  have  been  given  in  the  public  schools  or 
was  there  sufficient  schooling  and  too  little  appli- 
cation? Is  more  common  schooling  needed?  How 
much  more?  Can  it  be  given  better  before  en- 
tering the  trade  or  after  entrance,  when  it  comes 
along  with  the  practical  application?  The  inves- 
tigator here  must  be  careful  to  distinguish  be- 
tween an  apparent  and  a  real  need  for  more  gen- 
eral education.  Apprentices  often  appear  lacking 
in  common-school  subjects  when  in  fact  they  are 
lacking  in  the  ability  to  apply  what  they  know  in 
those  subjects  to  the  concrete  problems  at  hand. 
They  appear  to  lack  general  education;  what  they 
really  need  is  specific  and  special  courses  training 
them  to  use  what  they  already  know.  It  is  doubt- 
ful, for  instance,  if  short  courses  in  plane  geom- 
etry, solid  geometry,  elementary  physics,  etc., 
given  in  the  usual  way,  would  be  of  much  service 
in  assisting  an  apprentice  to  figure  out  the  cutting 
speed  on  a  lathe,  the  amount  of  material  wasted, 
or  the  weight  of  a  casting  made  from  a  pattern, 
although  these  results  depend  upon  principles  in 
the  subjects  named.  A  thorough  sixth-grade 
132 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

course  in  denominate  numbers  would  supply  all 
the  general  education  really  needed,  — not  all 
that  would  be  desirable,  but  all  that  would  be 
absolutely  essential;  and  the  rest  is  to  be  specific 
application  to  concrete  problems. 

If  the  general  schooling  needed  is  considerably 
above  the  minimum  requirement  of  the  State, 
would  it  pay  these  beginners  to  enter  a  regular 
school  and  obtain  it  there?  What  is  the  average 
education  of  the  students  in  the  trade  class?  What 
are  their  financial  conditions?  The  answers  to 
these  questions,  and  similar  ones  that  will  sug- 
gest themselves,  should  determine  in  the  minds  of 
the  trade-school  authorities  how  much  or  how 
little  general  education  to  include  in  the  work. 
Wherever  possible,  general  schooling  should  be 
approached  through  its  practical  adaptation  to 
the  trade  and  not  as  a  disjuncted  subject.  As  has 
been  so  ably  pointed  out  by  Professor  Richards, 
where  little  skill  and  little  or  no  technical  knowl- 
edge are  required  by  any  line  of  employment  that 
offers  fair  places  as  a  return  for  experience  alone, 
it  usually  indicates  the  need  of  general  continua- 
tion school  instruction  rather  than  trade  train- 
ing; and  where  skill  and  technical  knowledge  are 
requisite  to  advancement,  it  usually  indicates 
the  need  of  special  training  following  all  the 
133 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

general   schooling   required   to   profit  by  such 
training. 

Moral  and  recreational  subjects 

It  remains  only  to  say  a  few  words  regarding 
one  type  of  general  education  that  will  prove  of 
tremendous  value  to  a  State  or  Nation  in  promot- 
ing the  happiness  and  welfare  of  its  people.  The 
industrial  revolution  of  the  last  thirty  years,  with 
its  increasing  subdivision  of  labor,  its  multiplica- 
tion of  processes,  and  the  invention  of  semi-  and 
wholly  automatic  machinery,  has  brought  forth 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  jobs  that  not  only  are 
entirely  lacking  in  all  stimulus  to  physical  and 
mental  growth,  but  are  actually  deadening  to 
mind  and  body  by  their  monotony.  Whenever 
States,  cities,  corporations,  or  citizens  can  do  any- 
thing to  alleviate  this  condition,  they  are  morally 
bound  to  do  it.  Reading  courses,  music  and 
applied  art,  lectures,  entertainments,  the  public 
schools  open  in  the  evenings  for  concerts  and 
dancing,  athletics,  gymnasium  work,  playgrounds 
and  recreation-center  classes,  anything  that  will 
prove  successful  in  a  community,  meet  the  ap- 
proval of  its  people,  and  offer  relief  from  that 
monotony  of  existence  which  is  driving  men  to 
the  saloons  and  gambling-tables  and  women 
134 


SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

to  the  dance-halls  and  cafes,  should  be  pro- 
vided. 

But  we  must  temper  our  sentiment  with  sense; 
we  must  see  clearly  just  what  end  these  courses 
are  to  achieve,  and,  working  for  that  end,  divorce 
them  from  all  pretense  of  industrial  and  trade 
training,  all  relation  to  our  practical  instruction 
for  shop  and  factory,  —  the  one  having  to  do 
with  the  hours  of  labor  and  the  other  with  the 
hours  of  leisure. 

As  there  is  a  time  for  work  and  a  time  for  play, 
so  there  is  a  time  for  work  training  and  a  time  for 
instruction  in  the  wise  use  of  leisure;  but  in  nei- 
ther case  will  it  prove  successful  to  attempt  both 
lines  at  the  same  time. 


IV 

SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  TEACHER 

THE  longer  I  live  and  the  more  I  come  in  contact 
with  teachers  and  pupils  in  every  type  of  school, 
both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  the  more  I 
appreciate  the  value  of  the  teacher  as  the  one  in- 
dispensable factor  in  any  system  of  education.  It 
is  to  me  a  matter  of  both  wonder  and  regret,  when 
I  am  shown  over  some  magnificent  building,  ex- 
pensively furnished,  the  heating,  lighting,  and 
ventilation  in  charge  of  a  licensed  engineer,  mag- 
nificent machinery  and  shop  equipment  compris- 
ing every  possible  type  of  tool  and  machine,  and 
then  find  the  instruction  being  given  by  mechan- 
ics who  have  never  had  even  an  elementary  course 
in  the  mechanics  of  teaching,  never  made  out  a 
practical  course  of  study,  never  prepared  a 
month's  work  in  advance,  and  are  unable  to  keep 
even  moderately  good  order  in  their  classes.  Or, 
still  worse,  to  find  some  underpaid  and  over- 
worked regular  school  teacher,  who  has  had  a  six 
weeks'  summer  course  in  preparation  for  indus- 

136 


SELECTING   THE  TEACHER 

trial  work  or  has  taken  a  manual-training  course 
two  hours  a  week  for  the  year,  put  over  industrial 
or  apprenticeship  classes  that  require  mechanical 
skill,  shop  knowledge,  an  appreciation  of  indus- 
try from  the  inside,  and  experience  as  a  worker 
in  the  trade  under  instruction. 

The  standard 

Let  us  first  set  standards  for  our  various  teach- 
ers, find  what  it  will  cost  to  hire  teachers  that 
reach  these  standards  or  as  nearly  reach  them  as 
can  any  one  to  be  procured  for  that  work,  set 
aside  this  cost,  and  then  use  what  remains  of  our 
appropriation  to  provide  the  place  and  the  equip- 
ment. Nine  times  out  of  ten  a  $2500  teacher  with 
an  $800  equipment  will  turn  out  superior  work 
to  that  of  an  $800  teacher  with  a  $2500  equip- 
ment. The  former  will  find  a  way  to  provide  the 
tools  in  some  shop  or  factory,  but  the  latter  cannot 
find  a  way  to  provide  additional  personality  and 
mental  power. 

The  first  step  in  selection 

First  of  all,  then,  what  sort  of  teachers  do  we 
need,  where  are  they  to  be  found?  If  we  must 
train  them,  how  and  by  whom  shall  it  be  done? 

137 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

THE  EXPERIENCE  OF  GERMANY 

I  will  refer  you  first  to  the  experience  of  Ger- 
many in  regard  to  the  sort  of  teachers  that  have 
proved  most  successful. 

Directors 

There  are  ten  directors  in  the  ten  evening  trade 
schools  of  Hamburg  held  in  public  school  build- 
ings; five  of  them  are  principals  of  the  same  build- 
ings in  the  daytime,  three  hold  advanced  licenses 
as  instructors  in  higher  schools,  while  two  are 
teachers  in  the  common  schools.  Of  the  four  day 
trade  schools  housed  in  one  main  building  given 
up  exclusively  to  trade  instruction,  not  one  has  a 
director  who  is  primarily  a  school  man;  all  have 
directors  who  are  engineers,  experts  in  the  trades 
taught,  but  especially  trained  for  directing  school 
activities.  The  trade  schools  run  under  the  direc- 
tions of  trade  unions  all  have  tradesmen  as  di- 
rectors. The  work  of  the  day  school  is  distinctly 
higher  in  type  than  the  work  of  the  night  schools. 

It  would  appear,  then,  that  for  the  higher  and 
more  technical  day  school  an  engineer  or  expert 
tradesman  is  selected  as  director  and  is  obliged 
to  take  training  in  school  direction,  whereas  for 
the  less  technical  night-school  work,  a  school 

138 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

principal  or  teacher  is  preferred.  It  is  to  be  re- 
membered that  all  these  evening  schools  are 
under  the  direction  of  one  inspector,  who  is  a 
rather  high  type  of  educator  and  business  organ- 
izer, and  who  is  in  no  way  connected  with  the 
common-school  system  of  the  city.  The  manage- 
ment of  the  system  is  separated  from  that  of  the 
common-school  system,  but  the  direction  of  each 
evening  school  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  regular 
teacher  responsible  to  this  special  trade-school 
inspector. 

Teachers 

Of  the  223  teachers  employed  in  the  ten  eve- 
ning schools,  45  are  tradesmen,  5  rectors  of  day 
schools,  9  teachers  in  high  schools,  and  164  are 
common-school  teachers.  Thus,  in  the  evening 
school,  where  nearly  all  theory  is  taught,  the  prac- 
tical work  being  done  in  the  commercial  shops 
during  the  day,  178  school  teachers  are  employed 
as  against  45  tradesmen.  Of  these  178  school 
teachers,  only  3  are  giving  any  work  in  the  nature 
of  shop  instruction,  while  of  the  45  mechanics,  7 
are  engaged  in  classes  of  pure  theory  and  38  in 
shop  work  or  on  shop  problems. 

In  general  we  may  say  that  in  all  these  trade 
schools  the  professional  teacher  is  employed  to 

139 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

impart  theory  and  as  far  as  possible  for  elemen- 
tary technical  work,  the  actual  shop  instruction, 
the  advanced  technical  work,  and  certain  classes 
in  advanced  theory  being  left  to  the  mechanic.  In 
every  instance,  however,  the  professional  teacher 
has  taken  a  course  in  practical  training  for  the 
trade  he  is  to  teach  and  the  tradesman  has  fin- 
ished a  course  in  pedagogy.  In  no  case  has  the 
mechanic  stepped  directly  from  his  shop,  or  the 
teacher  from  his  classroom,  into  the  trade  school 
without  special  preparation. 

Summary 

Looking  back  over  these  statements  they  may 
be  summed  up  as  follows:  Where  the  facility  in 
imparting  information  and  the  preservation  of 
interest  and  discipline  are  most  important  and 
the  technical  knowledge  is  simple  enough  to  be 
acquired  by  study,  the  professional  teacher  is 
selected;  where  the  skill,  knowledge  of  the  trade, 
and  technical  information  are  more  important 
than  the  method  of  presenting  them,  the  mechanic 
is  selected. 


140 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

TRAINING  FOR  THE  AMERICAN  TEACHER 
Principles  of  teaching 

First  and  foremost  in  the  American  trade 
school  we  must  require  of  every  teacher  a  train- 
ing in  the  mechanics  of  teaching.  This  may  be 
anything  from  a  carefully  planned  course  in  some 
educational  institution  to  frequent  short  talks 
between  a  rural-school  superintendent  or  princi- 
pal and  his  one  industrial  teacher  concerning  the 
outlining  of  a  course,  the  instruction  by  demon- 
stration and  individual  help,  proper  methods  of 
examination,  and  the  principles  of  discipline.  It 
should  not  be  a  study  of  formal  pedagogy,  but 
a  study  of  practical  trade  teaching;  and  no  one 
should  be  permitted  to  teach  without  it. 

Trade  knowledge 

Secondly,  we  must  demand  a  rather  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  trade  to  be  taught,  whether 
gained  through  actual  experience  as  a  worker  in 
the  trade  or  through  special  training  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  trade  given  in  specially  organized 
courses  for  that  purpose.  Thus  the  trade  worker 
would  present  his  experience  as  a  mechanic  and 
his  training  in  the  principles  of  teaching  before 
being  employed  as  a  shop  instructor  or  teacher  of 
141 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

the  higher  classes  in  technical  knowledge.  The 
professional  teacher  would  present  evidence  of 
special  training  in  courses  given  for  apprentices  in 
the  trade,  or  in  special  courses  fitting  teachers  to 
instruct  in  this  trade,  and  also  from  visits,  study, 
and,  if  possible,  some  weeks'  actual  work  in  the 
trade,  before  he  is  hired  to  teach  the  classroom 
work  and  elementary  theory  of  that  industry. 
Under  such  an  arrangement  the  drawing  and 
shop  mathematics  of  the  mechanic  and  building 
trades,  the  chemistry  of  textiles,  dyeing  and 
bleaching,  the  composition  and  spelling  of  the 
printing  trade  might  be  given  by  these  profes- 
sional teachers;  the  shop  practice,  design  and 
final  estimating,  the  advanced  processes  of  the 
textile  industry,  and  the  actual  designing  and 
printing  being  left  to  expert  tradesmen. 

My  own  experience  has  shown  that  there  are 
more  school  men  who  can  acquire  the  elementary 
trade  principles  than  there  are  mechanics  who  can 
become  proficient  in  the  art  of  teaching;  also,  that 
it  is  easier  to  teach  the  school  man  than  the  me- 
chanic. It  has  also  proved  that  in  many  cases  the 
school  man  with  some  trade  training  gives  better 
satisfaction  in  the  classroom  not  in  the  shop  than 
the  mechanic  with  some  pedagogy;  but  wherever 
I  have  found  a  mechanic  who  did  master  the 
142 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

principles  of  teaching  he  has  proved  to  be  the 
most  valuable  man  in  the  entire  group. 

The  community's  part 

For  this  reason  a  State  or  community  that  pro- 
poses to  offer  trade  instruction  should  provide 
opportunity  for  its  tradesmen  to  receive  training 
in  the  art  of  teaching  and  should  seek  diligently 
for  those  who  prove  to  be  natural  instructors; 
and  it  should  provide  at  the  same  time  classes, 
visits,  excursions,  lectures,  and  short  terms  of 
practical  work  in  various  trades,  where  the  com- 
mon-school teachers  may  acquire  sufficient  tech- 
nical knowledge  to  do  the  elementary  classroom 
work  of  the  trades. 

The  danger  is,  however,  that  for  financial  or 
other  reasons  the  community  will  seek  to  employ 
these  professional  teachers  in  giving  the  actual 
trade  training.  In  such  cases  the  element  of  at- 
mosphere, and  all  that  it  stands  for,  is  lacking. 
It  is  like  a  picture  or  a  play;  it  only  represents 
real  life.  Even  though  the  professional  teacher 
has  gone  into  the  industry  and  learned  it,  if  he 
was  a  teacher  when  he  did  so  he  never  got  the 
viewpoint  of  the  apprentice  and  journeyman  who 
lived  in  that  trade,  by  that  trade,  and  never  ex- 
pected to  work  in  any  other  trade.  Let  the  school 

143 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

man  give  such  related  classroom  work  as  he  can 
do  best;  but  place  the  high-grade  mechanic  or 
trade  worker  in  charge  of  all  work  that  must  be 
an  exact  duplicate  of  the  work  done  commer- 
cially. I  have  seen  a  school  teacher  train  a  class 
in  the  names  of  various  cuts  of  meat,  their  ap- 
pearance, cost,  food-value,  waste,  etc.,  and  do  it 
more  successfully  than  any  butcher  in  the  city 
could  have  done  it;  but  I  never  yet  saw  a  school 
teacher  who  could  pick  up  a  knife  and  equal  a 
butcher  in  instructing  that  class  how  to  cut  up  a 
carcass. 

DETAILS  OF  A  TEACHERS'  TRAINING  COURSE 
FOR  THE  MECHANIC 

How  shall  the  State  provide  these  various 
opportunities  for  training? 

Mechanics  of  teaching 

The  easiest  to  provide  from  the  point  of  equip- 
ment and  the  most  difficult  from  all  other  stand- 
points is  the  mechanics  training  in  pedagogy. 
Any  public-school  building  will  serve  as  the 
place;  the  work  should  be  given  in  the  evening 
during  the  winter  months  and  should  require  not 
less  than  eighty  to  one  hundred  evenings  of  actual 
attendance.  We  have  found  it  satisfactory  to  run 
144 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

twenty-five  weeks,  two  evenings  per  week,  turning 
out  a  class  every  other  spring,  but  this  is  largely 
a  matter  for  decision  in  each  individual  case. 

The  class  of  mechanics  should  be  restricted  in 
number  and  very  carefully  selected.  Each  appli- 
cant should  bring  a  record  of  his  service  as  ap- 
prentice and  journeyman,  a  recommendation  in 
writing  from  his  present  employer,  and  should 
make  application  in  person  to  the  man  directing 
the  work.  Those  who  for  any  reason  are  deemed 
unfit  to  enter  the  class  should  be  rejected.  Into 
this  question  enters  a  consideration  of  personal 
appearance  and  manner,  conversational  ability, 
hopes  and  ambitions  and  reasons  for  entering  the 
class,  age,  experience,  and  any  other  points  that 
indicate  the  probability  of  success  or  failure.  The 
most  promising  applicants  up  to  the  limited  num- 
ber prescribed  should  be  selected,  and  if  there  still 
remain  some,  not  undesirable  candidates,  a  few  of 
them  should  be  held  as  alternates. 

From  this  it  can  be  seen  that  the  man  in  charge 
of  the  organization  of  this  class  must  be  an  ex- 
pert. He  should  understand  men,  be  familiar 
with  the  principles  of  teaching,  have  a  general 
knowledge  of  the  trades  to  be  covered,  and  under- 
stand thoroughly  the  running  of  a  trade  school. 
Preferably  he  should  be  the  principal  of  a  trade  or 

145 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

vocational  school,  a  director  of  industrial  work  in 
city  schools,  or  at  least  a  teacher  of  long  experi- 
ence in  industrial  or  trade  teaching.  He  must 
understand  what  type  of  mechanics  make  the 
best  trade  teachers  and  how  to  select  that  type. 

Probation  period 

Having  selected  the  class,  a  probation  period  of 
two  or  three  weeks  should  be  allowed  for  volun- 
tary or  compulsory  dropping  out  and  replacing 
from  the  alternate  list.  After  this  period  expires, 
the  regular  registration  should  be  made  and  a 
substantial  financial  fee  collected  from  each  man 
or  woman,  the  same  to  be  retained  or  returned 
under  certain  attendance  restrictions  as  decided 
upon  by  the  authorities  in  charge.  Experience 
has  shown  that  people  value  most  what  they  are 
willing  to  pay  for,  and  the  most  valuable  people 
are  always  willing  to  pay.  This  is  simply  our  final 
sift  in  the  sifting  process.  We  are  now  prepared 
to  discuss  what  these  mechanics  shall  be  taught. 

Since  the  mechanics  of  teaching  is  the  one  sub- 
ject required  of  all  and  the  one  which  by  its  na- 
ture admits  of  presentation  to  mixed  groups  of 
trade  workers,  I  am  including  a  suggestive  out- 
line giving  in  a  concrete  way  what  this  subject 
ought  to  cover. 

146 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

Outline  of  work 

With  but  slight  variation  the  following  plan 
can  be  adapted  to  training  teachers  for  a  large 
variety  of  trade  work:  — 

1.  Industrial  education. 

What  it  means. 
Why  it  has  arisen. 
Present  needs. 
Future  possibilities. 

2.  Industrial  schools. 

Various   kinds  —  name,   nature,   aim,   and 

province  of  each. 
Comparison  with  manual  training. 

3.  Value  of  an  outline. 

First  sketch. 

Rearrangement  in  specific  order. 

4.  Course  of  study. 

Relation  to  equipment. 
Definite  aim. 

How  much  skill? 

What  processes?  Jobs? 

Allied  subjects. 

5.  Special  points  on  adapting  outlines  to  trade  work. 

6.  Equipment. 

Relation  to  work  planned. 
Bids  —  specifications. 
Firms  —  general  cost. 
Arrangement  in  shop  or  work  room. 
Individual  or  general  tools. 

147 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL   SCHOOLS 

7.  The  shop  exercise. 

Definite  idea. 
Previous  preparation. 
Readiness  of  tools  and  materials. 
Clear  instruction. 
Demonstration  or  individual  work. 

8.  Recitation  and  examination. 

Proper  questioning. 

Trade  standards  for  judgment. 

Trade  terms. 

Interest  —  memory  —  judgment. 

Rating  shop  work  and  exercises. 

The  practical  examination  marking. 

Self-checking  for  the  teachers. 

9.  Discipline. 

Direct  —  disorder,  loafing,  absence,  tardiness. 
Shop  ideals  and  class  spirit. 
Indirect  —  system  (tool  room,  stock  room). 
Self  control  (between  students). 
Value  of  time  and  material. 
Work  ideals  —  social  justice. 
10.  Records. 

Efficiency  cards  —  general  cards. 

Judging  students. 
Time  cards  and  job  tickets. 
Want  book  —  efficiency  records  of  tools  and 

materials. 
Bills. 


I48 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

11.  Materials  and  products. 

Purchase:  In  bulk? 

As  needed? 
Disposal. 

Selling  product. 

Giving  to  student. 

Building  for  school  or  system. 

Contract  work. 

Student  compensation. 

12.  Place  of  industries  in  modern  education. 

13.  Relation  of  trade  unions  to  trade  education. 

14.  Health  —  industrial  hygiene  and  safety. 

15.  State  laws  —  rules  —  regulations  and  financial 
assistance. 

1 6.  Differences  between  trade  and  industrial  in- 
struction on  one  hand  and  regular  school  teach- 
ing on  the  other  hand. 

Economic  —  social. 
Individual  —  discipline. 
Age  —  environment. 
Earning  capacity  —  scholarship. 

Method  of  preparing  the  outline 

In  preparing  an  outline  of  this  kind,  if  there  are 
already  successful  schools  established  in  the 
industries  for  which  these  people  are  training, 
find  out  what  the  directors  of  those  schools  con- 
sider most  important  for  their  instructors  to 
know,  what  mistakes  and  weaknesses  are  most 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

common  among  beginning  teachers,  and  such 
practical  first-hand  information,  and  then  pro- 
vide in  your  course  for  discussions  of  these  points. 
I  use  the  word  "  discussions "  advisedly.  These 
practical  people  cannot  at  first  enter  intelli- 
gently into  a  discussion  of  the  matter  contained 
in  this  outline.  Some  considerable  time  must  be 
devoted  by  their  teacher  to  talks  and  comments, 
largely  by  himself  alone.  References  to  books, 
pamphlets,  magazines,  bulletins,  etc.,  should  be 
carefully  selected  and  assigned  to  prepare  a  back- 
ground for  discussion.  The  more  important  top- 
ics should  be  run  through  and  commented  upon, 
and  as  soon  as  the  class  has  a  fund  of  information 
from  which  to  draw  discussion,  this  method 
should  be  adopted.  The  instructor  in  mechanics 
of  teaching  should  be  the  director  of  the  industrial 
work  or  present  credentials  of  efficiency  equal  to 
those  mentioned  for  the  one  selecting  the  class. 

Drawing,  mathematics,  and  other  subjects 

If  the  trades  included  in  this  training  class  for 
teachers  are  the  regular  manufacturing  and  build- 
ing trades  dependent  upon  drawing  and  applied 
mathematics,  these  subjects  should  be  required 
of  every  man  who  cannot  show  evidence  of  pro- 
ficiency in  rapidly  applying  them  to  the  work  of 

150 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

his  trade.  The  relationship  between  the  drawing, 
mathematics,  and  the  shop  work  should  be  em- 
phasized. Where  drawing  and  mathematics  do 
not  enter  into  the  trades,  but  elementary  chem- 
istry, geology,  metallurgy,  or  some  other  science 
does,  that  science  should  be  required  under  the 
same  conditions  as  given  for  drawing.  Four  years 
of  experience  in  training  mechanics  for  industrial 
teaching  has  shown  us  the  necessity  and  impor- 
tance of  providing  for  a  considerable  amount  of 
additional  training  in  drawing,  mathematics,  and 
science,  all  three  bearing  directly  upon  the  trades 
work.  We  have  been  unable  to  depend  upon  the 
previous  knowledge  regarding  these  subjects  of 
even  our  highest-grade  mechanics,  although  in 
some  cases  it  was  necessary  only  to  review  work 
which  they  had  once  had  to  reorganize  it  under 
fundamental  principles  so  as  to  apply  it  intelli- 
gently to  trade  teaching.  To  be  able  to  use  ap- 
plied mathematics  in  a  shop  and  to  be  able  to 
explain  the  how  and  the  why  of  this  use  to  an 
apprentice  are  very  different  things,  so  our 
mechanics  find. 

Shop  practice 

The  actual  shop  practice  of  these  prospective 
teachers  should  be  divided  into  two  parts  — 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

(i)  training  in  any  process  of  the  industry,  any 
machines  in  the  industry,  or  any  work  in  their 
particular  branch  of  industry  in  which  they  are 
not  already  proficient;  and  (2)  practice  teaching. 
We  have  had  high-skilled  machinists,  drawing 
from  $1300  to  $1450  a  year,  who  knew  practically 
nothing  about  the  universal  milling  machine  or 
the  universal  grinder.  Pattern-makers,  who  had 
worked  so  many  years  in  one  factory  that  they 
were  doubtful  regarding  the  best  methods  of  con- 
structing patterns  of  an  entirely  different  nature, 
have  also  registered  in  the  class.  It  has  been 
found  advisable  to  provide  some  opportunity  for 
additional  shop  work  for  these  men,  although  it 
has  never  needed  to  be  extensive  and  has  usually 
been  but  a  small  part  of  the  entire  training.  The 
men  themselves  are  depended  upon  to  suggest 
during  conferences  the  nature  of  the  shop  work 
in  which  they  are  weak  and  for  which  they  feel  a 
need  of  supplementary  training. 

Practice  teaching 

The  practice  teaching  is  absolutely  essential  to 
the  proper  training  of  the  mechanic  for  school 
positions.  It  should  be  given  under  conditions  as 
nearly  as  possible  like  those  the  mechanic  will 
meet  in  his  first  school  job.  It  should  be  super- 
152 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

vised,  discussed,  subjected  to  all  the  tests  of  dis- 
cipline and  system  that  occur  in  the  regular  trade 
school,  and  must  be  given  to  fair-sized  groups  of 
young  men  or  women  actually  at  work  in  the 
trade.  The  latter  may  be  provided  by  forming 
classes  of  apprentices  under  the  direction  of  reg- 
ular instructors,  and  detailing  the  men  or  women 
from  the  teachers'  class  to  instruct  these  ap- 
prentices for  a  certain  number  of  nights  under 
supervision.  After  the  close  of  the  first  series  of 
practice  lessons,  a  short  time  may  well  intervene 
for  discussions,  visits  to  other  classes,  and  prepa- 
ration for  further  teaching,  after  which  the  pro- 
spective teacher  is  again  placed  in  charge  of  a 
class  and  given  more  responsibility  and  authority. 

Where  the  community  has  not  the  mill,  fac- 
tory, or  shop  equipment  to  carry  on  this  work,  an 
arrangement  can  nearly  always  be  made  with  a 
technical  high  school,  college,  factory,  shop,  or 
mill,  that  has  the  desired  equipment,  for  use  of 
the  same  outside  of  regular  working  hours,  and 
subject  to  the  supervision  of  some  employee  of 
the  firm  who  is  compensated  by  the  community. 
The  rental  in  such  case  is  often  less  than  the  in- 
terest on  such  an  equipment  as  the  municipality 
would  need  to  provide. 

By  varying  these  suggestions  to  meet  the  local 

153 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

needs  and  by  selecting  trades  which  are  promi- 
nent in  the  community  and  which  can  be  prop- 
erly provided  for  both  in  equipment  and  number 
of  apprentice  classes,  any  locality  can  offer  a 
very  satisfactory  opportunity  for  its  mechanical 
experts  to  acquire  proficiency  as  teachers. 

TRAINING  THE  PROFESSIONAL  TEACHER  IN 
TRADE  SUBJECTS 

In  order  to  train  the  professional  school  teacher 
to  handle  trade  subjects  a  more  elaborate  system 
of  equipment  is  necessary,  but  the  actual  instruc- 
tion is  more  easily  provided. 

TJieory 

So  far  as  theory  is  concerned,  these  teachers 
need  only  the  general  principles  underlying  trade 
education.  This  may  be  given  them  in  a  series  of 
lectures  and  discussions  conducted  in  a  classroom 
by  the  director  or  head  teacher  in  the  industrial 
system,  but  this  is  to  be  recommended  only  where 
there  are  no  schools  in  operation.  Where  there 
are  evening  trade  schools,  the  entire  group  of 
teachers  registered  should  be  taken  by  the  direc- 
tor on  a  series  of  visits  to  the  various  schools. 
The  work  in  each  school  or  class  should  be  ex- 
plained, the  aims,  results,  and  methods  used  to 
154 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

attain  these  results,  the  peculiar  problems  and 
difficulties  of  each  trade  teacher,  discipline,  and 
all  such  matters  that  go  to  make  successful  trade 
instruction  should  be  pointed  out  and  made  note 
of.  These  should  later  be  discussed  and  examined, 
and  the  members  of  the  class  should  furnish  proof 
to  the  instructor  that  they  have  obtained  the 
proper  point  of  view. 

Trade  principles  and  skill 

These  teachers  must  also  be  given  an  elemen- 
tary but  thorough  training  in  the  principles  of 
the  trade,  the  classroom  work  of  which  they  are 
to  teach.  It  is  not  sufficient  for  them  to  know  this 
classroom  work  itself,  but  they  must  also  know 
something  of  the  hand  work  that  goes  with  it,  the 
shop  conditions,  the  gradations  of  work  as  ap- 
prentices advance,  if  they  are  to  obtain  the  best 
results  in  their  teaching-. 

The  actual  classroom  work  may  be  given  them 
by  some  instructor  at  that  time  engaged  in  doing 
that  work,  or  by  some  experienced  trade  teacher 
who  has  studied  out  and  prepared  a  proper 
course  of  study  which  will  form  a  basis  for  a 
beginning.  The  drawing,  mathematics,  science, 
English,  business  practice  and  system,  civic 
training,  and  all  such  allied  work  can  always  be 

155 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

arranged  for  without  difficulty.  Competent  men 
in  the  trade  can  be  found  to  instruct  the  teachers' 
class  in  these  matters,  and  only  men  in  the  trade 
itself  should  be  selected  for  this  work.  It  is  im- 
portant that  these  teachers  get  the  work  entirely 
from  the  tradesman's  standpoint,  and  that  it 
shall  relate  immediately  and  always  to  the  prac- 
tical use  in  the  trade;  the  method  and  felicity  of 
imparting  the  knowledge  in  these  cases  is  of  sec- 
ondary importance.  The  class  brings  these  latter 
qualities  from  its  professional  work. 

That  part  of  the  classroom  teacher's  training 
that  depends  on  pure  skill  can  be  given  in  any 
shop  or  workroom  containing  the  requisite  appa- 
ratus; therefore,  if  there  are  any  educational  in- 
stitutions, public  or  private,  in  the  vicinity,  that 
possess  such  an  equipment,  arrangements  should 
be  made  to  give  this  training  in  skill  in  the  regular 
classes  of  that  school,  or  to  use  its  equipment  and 
possibly  its  instructors  or  director  in  special  eve- 
ning instruction. 

If  the  equipment  is  inexpensive,  or  one  that  is 
portable  and  not  likely  to  be  injured,  it  may  often 
be  borrowed  from  some  industrial  concern,  used 
for  a  certain  number  of  weeks,  and  then  returned 
to  the  owners.  Such  equipments  as  samples  of 
wools,  cloths,  leather,  patterns,  designs,  and 
156 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

innumerable  others  that  any  one  can  suggest,  are 
readily  borrowed  for  use  in  evening-school  in- 
struction. Where  the  equipment  will  serve  for 
many  classes  and  be  a  permanent  asset,  it  can  be 
purchased;  but  this  is  inadvisable  in  industries 
with  a  constantly  changing  product. 

Industrial  appreciation 

Even  more  important  than  the  training  in  skill 
is  the  training  in  industrial  appreciation,  which  is 
acquired  only  through  contact  with  the  industry 
itself.  The  community  may  provide  for  this 
training  in  three  different  ways. 

The  simplest  and  least  expensive  is  to  arrange, 
with  the  different  industrial  concerns  whose  work 
is  to  be  taught,  for  the  entrance,  as  actual  begin- 
ners in  the  industry  during  the  summer  vacation, 
of  such  regular  school  teachers  as  desire  to  equip 
themselves  for  teaching  the  classroom  work  of 
that  particular  trade.  The  compensation  will  be 
that  regularly  allowed  for  beginners,  supple- 
mented or  not  by  the  community  as  may  be  de- 
cided upon.  This  method  has  the  advantage  of 
allowing  a  large  number  of  people  to  obtain  this 
experience. 

The  second  method  is  to  arrange  for  work  on 
Saturdays  and  such  fixed  holidays  as  are  allowed 

157 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

the  schools  and  not  the  shops,  during  the  entire 
time  the  schools  are  in  session.  This  is  much 
more  difficult  to  arrange  because  of  the  intermit- 
tence  of  employment,  half-holidays,  and  general 
attitude  of  employers  to  consider  it  a  nuisance. 
The  teachers,  however,  work  without  compensa- 
tion as  a  rule,  which  aids  in  securing  the  job.  It  is 
often  possible  to  arrange  so  that  the  work  of  a 
school  teacher  will  come  entirely  in  the  forenoon, 
and  the  afternoons,  or  some  of  them,  can  be 
devoted  to  shop  work. 

The  third,  best,  and  most  expensive  plan  is  for 
the  community  to  select,  from  those  completing 
the  work  of  the  teachers'  class,  one  or  two  of  the 
most  promising  and  arrange  for  them  to  spend 
the  next  half-year  in  the  industry,  drawing  the 
same  salaries  they  receive  when  teaching,  less  the 
amount  earned  in  the  shop.  These  men  or  women 
would  then  become  the  supervisors  of  the  class- 
room work  done  by  those  who  were  trained  as 
suggested  in  the  first  or  second  way  and  would 
also  teach  in  the  trade  classes  in  the  evening. 
They  would  form  the  selected  group  from  which 
to  pick  teachers  for  all-day  schools  and  for  part- 
time  instruction  in  trade  work. 

Under  this  arrangement  a  city  might,  for  in- 
stance, have  a  group  of  fifty  or  sixty  public- 

158 


SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

school  teachers  taking  the  work  in  trade- teaching 
methods,  visits  to  classes,  etc.  This  would  be 
divided  into  several  smaller  groups  studying  the 
drawing,  mathematics,  chemistry,  English,  and 
other  allied  subjects  decided  upon  as  necessary 
for  the  beginning  apprentice,  the  work  being 
given  in  a  classroom  by  an  expert.  These  same 
groups,  some  of  them  combined  when  possible, 
would  be  taken  into  some  shop  or  work  room  and 
given  the  elementary  principles  and  skill  of  the 
trade  itself,  and  from  time  to  time  certain  mem- 
bers would  be  relieved  from  their  other  work  and 
detailed  to  give  class  instruction  to  groups  of 
apprentices  formed  from  the  various  trades.  At 
the  close  of  the  course,  these  second  groups  of 
teachers  would  be  again  divided  into  classes  of 
strictly  one  trade  or  part  of  a  trade  and  then 
assigned  for  summer  work  in  the  industries.  At 
the  close  of  the  summer,  two  or  three  picked  men, 
selected  for  their  efficiency  in  teaching  classroom 
subjects  and  for  their  work  in  the  trade,  would 
be  continued  in  the  commercial  shops  or  fac- 
tories at  the  expense  of  the  community. 

The  whole  remaining  list  of  satisfactory  gradu- 
ates would  then  be  made  up  into  an  eligible  list, 
from  which  the  director  of  evening  trades  schools 
would  select  his  classroom  teachers.  From  those 

159 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

who  obtained  satisfactory  experience  in  this 
work,  and  also  from  the  specially  selected  two  or 
three  previously  chosen,  the  day  trade  schools 
would  select  their  classroom  instructors.  Any 
city  that  follows  this  plan,  modified  to  meet  its 
conditions,  will  secure  good  trade-school  instruc- 
tion. - 

It  will  be  contended  that  the  expense  of  this 
training  will  be  considerable,  but  it  will  not  ex- 
ceed the  expense  now  met  without  complaint  in 
supporting  our  normal  schools,  training  schools, 
training  classes,  and  educational  departments  in 
State  universities,  whose  purpose  it  is  to  turn  out 
capable  teachers  for  the  public  schools. 

Trade  training  will  never  reach  a  very  high 
degree  of  efficiency  so  long  as  mechanics,  neither 
trained  nor  specially  selected,  are  chosen  as  our 
instructors;  public-school  teachers,  unfamiliar 
with  trade  conditions,  have  charge  of  our  class- 
rooms, and  political  appointees  have  direction  of 
the  community's  industrial  educational  system. 

CONCLUSION 

In  the  foregoing  pages  an  effort  has  been  made 

to  point  out  first  of  all  a  general  line  of  study  to 

be  applied  to  the  various  industrial  activities  of  a 

State  in  order  to  determine  whether  or  not  pub- 

160 


SELECTING   THE  TEACHER 

licly  supported  trade  education  should  be  given. 
Where  an  affirmative  answer  resulted  from  the 
above,  suggestions  were  given  regarding  the  na- 
ture and  types  of  trade  training  to  be  established. 
General  rules  for  determining  the  courses  of 
study  were  presented,  and  in  some  cases  more  de- 
tailed suggestions  were  given  as  concrete  exam- 
ples of  what  such  courses  should  be  like.  Lastly, 
the  selection  and  training  of  teachers  for  these 
trade  schools  was  treated  as  fully  as  it  is  practi- 
cable to  handle  a  subject  that  must  needs  be 
modified  continually  to  meet  local  necessities. 

It  is  perfectly  well  known  to  the  author  that 
all  this  is  suggestive  rather  than  final,  and  that 
many  minor  and  concrete  branches  of  the  subject 
have  been  merely  touched  upon  or  omitted  alto- 
gether; but  it  is  believed  that  what  has  been  said 
is  entirely  sufficient  to  form  a  working  basis  for 
any  community  to  start  with.  So  far  as  the  de- 
tails of  education  are  concerned,  the  results  of 
experience  in  each  community  are  the  only  safe 
milestones  of  advancement. 

Without  a  doubt  these  schools  will  be  a  perma- 
nent and  ever-increasing  benefit  to  the  children 
of  industry.  They  will  be  a  benefit  to  the  em- 
ployer and  to  every  citizen  who  hires  the  services 
or  purchases  the  output  of  skilled  mechanics.  It 
'  161 


ESTABLISHING  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS 

still  remains  to  be  determined  just  how  great  the 
advantage  is  to  the  employer,  in  order  to  arrive 
at  an  equable  proportion  of  the  paid  working 
time  that  may  be  demanded  for  trade  instruction. 

It  will  also  be  interesting  to  observe  whether 
they  advance  the  interests  of  the  trade  unions  or 
not.  If  the  unions  continue  to  work  for  quantity 
of  numbers,  irrespective  of  skill,  it  is  doubtful  if 
the  industrial  schools  will  have  other  than  little 
effect  on  their  strength.  If,  however,  the  unions 
seek  to  increase  their  influence  through  the  ex- 
cellence of  their  membership  and  the  quality  of 
work  the  union  members  are  able  to  produce, 
these  industrial  schools  will  prove  a  powerful 
factor  in  advancing  the  reputation  of  the  unions. 

We  are  not,  however,  concerned  directly  with 
these  problems,  but  indirectly  with  all  of  them. 
We  are  concerned  hi  working  out  some  common 
ground  of  mutual  advantage,  so  definite  and 
plain  that  the  State,  the  employer,  and  the  union 
will  join  hands  for  a  common  cause,  the  uplifting 
of  the  children  of  labor,  and  through  them,  of 
labor  itself. 


OUTLINE 

I.    SELECTING  THE  SCHOOL 

1.  Our  present  footing x 

a.  Need  for  facts 2 

b.  Study  the  industries 3 

c.  What  industries  to  study 4 

2.  What  to  study  about  an  industry 5 

a.  The  work  place 5 

b.  Hygienic  nature  of  the  work 5 

c.  Moral  and  social  conditions 6 

d.  Standing  of  the  industry  with  its  workers.  . .  6 

e.  The  wage  factor 7 

/.  Local  standing 7 

g.  Interpreting  the  above 8 

3.  Child-employing  industries 8 

a.  What  are  they? 8 

b.  Children  employed  —  number  and  age 9 

c.  Are  numbers  excessive? 9 

d.  The  age  problem 10 

e.  Length  of  employment 12 

4.  Opportunity  in  the  trade 14 

a.  Are  skilled  processes  ahead? 15 

b.  Other  training  possible 16 

c.  Fitting  the  apprentice  for  advancement 16 

d.  If  not  advanced,  why  not? 19 

e.  Apprentice  vs.  adult 21 

/.  Employer  creates  a  "blind  alley" 21 

163 


OUTLINE 

5.  Shall  we  train  inside  or  outside  the  shop? 21 

a.  Training  within  the  industry 22 

b.  Large  number  advanced 23 

c.  Large  advance  but  slow 24 

d.  Small  number  highly  skilled 25 

e.  Apprentice  mortality 27 

/.  The  nature  of  the  work 29 

g.  Can  we  give  skill  alone? 30 

h.  Must  skill  be  given  outside? 30 

i.  Is  general  knowledge  required? 31 

6.  Training  for  foremanship 32 

7.  The  allied  industries 36 

8.  Industries  for  adult  beginners 38 

9.  Vocational  guidance 40 

II.    MAKING  THE  SURVEY 

1.  Two  aspects  of  the  survey 43 

2.  The  industrial  survey 45 

a.  The  survey  material 46 

b.  Classification  of  all  occupations 48 

c.  Occupations  not  to  be  considered 48 

d.  Groups  that  will  be  studied 49 

e.  Subdivisions  under  general  occupations 49 

/.  Industries  in  the  manufacturing  and  mechani- 
cal group  that  will  not  be  studied 50 

g.  Industries  in  the  manufacturing  and  mechani- 
cal group  that  will  be  studied 52 

h.  Domestic  and  personal  service 54 

i.  Instructions  for  field  workers 55 

j.  Memorandum 55 

164 


OUTLINE 

^  k.  Departmental  chart -.'  57 

/.  Suggestions   bearing   on   the   departmental 

chart 58 

m.  Further  instructions  for  field  workers 59 

n.  Materials  and  aids 59 

o.  Use  of  cards  for  field  notes 62 

p.  Conferences  with   representatives  of  other 

establishments  of  the  same  type 63 

q.  Other  things  to  watch  and  do 64 

3.  The  educational  survey 65 

a.  Extent 65 

b.  The  public  school 66 

c.  Part-time  and  evening  schools 68 

d.  Private  and  commercial  schools 71 

4.  The  commercial  industrial  survey 74 

5.  Other  forms  of  education 78 

III.    SELECTING  THE  COURSE 

1.  Advisory  boards 79 

2.  Trade  agreements 82 

a.  Tentative  agreements 83 

b.  General  agreements 83 

c.  Specific  trade  agreement 86 

d.  Personal  agreements 90 

3.  Determining  the  course  of  study 91 

a.  Well  organized,  highly  skilled  trades 91 

b.  Field  for  advancement 92 

c.  On  what  does  advancement  depend? 92 

d.  Trade  needs  determine  course 93 

e.  Need  for  skill 93 

165 


OUTLINE 

/,  Need  of  technical  knowledge 94 

g.  Both  skill  and  technical  knowledge  needed. .  94 

4.  When  shall  the  instruction  be  given? 95 

a.  The  day  school 96 

b.  Three  types  of  day  schools 97 

c.  The  prevocational  school 97 

d .  The  elementary  trade  school 98 

e.  The  advanced  trade  school 102 

/.  Part-time  and  evening  classes 103 

5.  Where  shall  the  instruction  be  given? 105 

a.  In  a  special  building 105 

b.  In  the  plant  during  special  hours 106 

c.  Within  and  without  the  plant 106 

d.  Reorganization  within  the  plant 107 

e.  Master  of  apprentices 108 

/.  Dangers  to  be  avoided 109 

6.  Art  in  industry no 

7.  Unorganized  or  low-skilled  trades 113 

a.  Short-unit  courses 114 

b.  Series  of  courses 115 

c.  Training  for  allied  industries 116 

d.  Allied  groups 117 

8.  Fitting  for  a  new  occupation 118 

a.  Related  to  apprentice's  work 119 

b.  Not  related  to  student's  present  work 120 

9.  Woman's  work 121 

a.  Home-making 122 

b.  Woman's  trade  training 124 

10.  Training  in  general  efficiency 125 

a.  General  education  in  trade  schools 127 

b.  Civic  training 128 

166 


OUTLINE 

c.  General    education    needed    for    industrial 
efficiency 131 

d.  Moral  and  recreational  subjects 134 

IV.    SELECTING  THE  TEACHER 

1.  The  importance  of  the  teacher 136 

a.  The  standard 137 

b.  The  first  step  in  selection 137 

2.  The  experience  of  Germany 138 

a.  Directors 138 

b.  Teachers 139 

,     c.  Summary 140 

3.  Training  for  the  American  teacher 141 

a.  Principles  of  teaching 141 

b.  Trade  knowledge 141 

c.  The  community's  part 143 

4.  Details  of  a  teachers'  training  course  for  the 
mechanic 144 

a.  Mechanics  of  teaching 144 

b.  Probation  period 146 

c.  Outline  of  work 147 

d.  Method  of  preparing  the  outline 149 

e.  Drawing,  mathematics,  and  other  subjects . .  150 

/.  Shop  practice 151 

g.  Practice  teaching 152 

5.  Training    the    professional    teacher    in    trade 
subjects 154 

a.  Theory 154 

b.  Trade  principles  and  skill 155 

c.  Industrial  appreciation 157 

6.  Conclusion 160 


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